sabotage
Americannoun
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any underhand interference with production, work, etc., in a plant, factory, etc., as by enemy agents during wartime or by employees during a trade dispute.
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any undermining of a cause.
verb (used with object)
noun
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the deliberate destruction, disruption, or damage of equipment, a public service, etc, as by enemy agents, dissatisfied employees, etc
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any similar action or behaviour
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have sabotagedperfect
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has sabotagedperfect 3rd person singular
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are sabotagingprogressive
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am sabotagingprogressive 1st person singular
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is sabotagingprogressive 3rd person singular
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sabotagingparticiple
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has been sabotagingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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have been sabotagingperfect progressive
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sabotagessingular 3rd person
Past
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had sabotagedperfect
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was sabotagingprogressive singular
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were sabotagingprogressive plural
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sabotagedparticiple
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had been sabotagingperfect progressive
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sabotagedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of sabotage
First recorded in 1865–70; from French, from sabot(er) “to botch,” originally, “to harry, shake up, strike” (verb derivative of sabot sabot ) + -age -age
Explanation
Sabotage isn't very nice: It's when you ruin or disrupt something by messing up a part of it on purpose. Loosening the blades on your competitor's ice skates would definitely be considered sabotage. Sabotage comes from the French word saboter, which literally means “walk noisily.” That's funny, because the last thing you'd want to do when committing an act of sabotage is stomp around and get caught. It’s believed that sabotage came into use in 1910 as a noun, and then later in 1918 as a verb. Apparently, people only became so cruel in the last century or so.
Vocabulary lists containing sabotage
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This doesn’t work for Alice, however, who goes from disbelief to sabotage to an act of betrayal whose wreckage spills out over the series and blows back on her.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
Germany moved to end its dependence on Russian energy, a transition made permanent when the Nord Stream pipelines were damaged by sabotage in 2022.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
“Everybody’s weirdly competitive and trying to sabotage each other.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2026
This week, it announced a partnership with Deutsche Telekom to develop a drone defense shield, stepping up efforts to protect critical infrastructure in Germany from potential acts of sabotage.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
The Gestapo, summoned to inspect the damage, concluded that it was sabotage.
From "Night" by Elie Wiesel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
