disable
Americanverb (used with object)
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disables,
present (3rd person singular)
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disabled,
past participle, past
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disabling
present participle
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to make unable or unfit; weaken or destroy the capability of; incapacitate.
The detective successfully disabled the bomb.
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to impair or injure (a person or animal) physically or mentally.
The accident disabled him for life.
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to make legally incapable; disqualify.
Minors are legally disabled from entering into a contract.
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Digital Technology. to make (a device, system, or feature) unable to function; turn off.
Some of the car’s advanced safety features can be disabled.
verb
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to make ineffective, unfit, or incapable, as by crippling
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to make or pronounce legally incapable
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to switch off (an electronic device)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disablesimple
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disablessimple
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have disabledperfect
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has disabledperfect
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am disablingprogressive
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are disablingprogressive
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is disablingprogressive
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have been disablingperfect progressive
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has been disablingperfect progressive
Past
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disabledsimple
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had disabledperfect
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was disablingprogressive
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were disablingprogressive
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had been disablingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disable
Explanation
When an injury disables someone, it leaves the person seriously hurt, probably for the rest of their life. If a car accident disables you, you are permanently limited in some physical way. Illness, as well as injury, can disable people: for example, diabetes disables some sufferers by leaving them blind or weakening their hearts. A completely different way to disable is to make something unusable or unable to work in a certain way. if you disable your smoke detector while you cook nachos in your smoky oven, it won't work until you reconnect the batteries.
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.
See Examples For:
Hayun said, in a video released by the prime minister's office, that the attacker was "trying to destroy the instruments in order to disable the plane".
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
"Now that we know they have this defense mechanism, we might be able to precisely disable it in cancers, making them more susceptible to cancer therapies, as well."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026
As takeoff neared, the flight attendant reminded passengers to put their devices on airplane mode to disable wireless transmission.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
The app, which Anthropic could not disable, can capture calls, texts and voice traffic, and even identify people by their voice if they switch SIM cards.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
“You more than earned your keep with work, Nhamo,” the Afrikaner said, “even if you did disable half the farm crew.”
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
A "dark" vessel -- usually a tanker or cargo carrier -- deliberately disables or manipulates transponders in a bid to go undetected by public tracking systems like Kpler's MarineTraffic.
From Barron's ● Mar. 31, 2026
If the lane striping isn’t perfect, though, the lane-keeping assist sometimes disables itself, so I don’t rely on it completely.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 20, 2025
Though infections are at a relative low these days, we're still dealing with COVID-19, which kills hundreds of Americans per week and disables countless others.
From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2025
So the therapy disables the switch - named BCL11A – so the adult body starts making fetal haemoglobin once again.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2024
Several of the drones hover too close to the gates—when they try to cross over, they hit an invisible shield that disables them, sending them clattering to the ground.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
To investigate whether this decline actually contributed to aging, the team developed genetically modified mice in which Menin could be selectively disabled.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
Qualifications Scotland said it was committed to making reasonable adjustments so that disabled learners have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Not including healthcare, the country will spend more than £100 billion this year on all types of welfare benefits for the sick and disabled, about a third more than defense spending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
This was ignored, then overtake mode was reactivated before being disabled again, on the basis that it was fairer to do so than leave it enabled.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
He wrote, “I was more disabled when I returned than when I left.”
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
"When those systems become persistently dysregulated, the result may be the profound and disabling fatigue seen across multiple disorders."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026
Zhang uses a Little Genius smartwatch to check her daughter’s location and call her, while disabling games and other apps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
“When people have access to medical care through insurance, they tend to undertake activities that can help longevity, like better preventive care, better management of chronic and disabling conditions,” Cohen said.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
"You've got inequalities in urban infrastructure, housing, structural conditions around things like social networks and care. If you put all of those together and then you throw heat in, that's what's disabling," Kirkcaldy said.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
I grew up victim to a disabling confusion.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
