disable
Americanverb (used with object)
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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
- disablement noun
- disabler noun
Etymology
Origin of disable
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.
They were tasked with “dismantling and disabling” Venezuela’s air-defense systems, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine told reporters Saturday, “to ensure the safe passage of the helicopters into the target area.”
People aren't aware of how difficult it is to live as a disabled person.
From BBC
But if a student disables Opal to use a banned app, school officials are notified on an office dashboard.
From Los Angeles Times
He left the Conservative Cabinet in 1987 to care for his wife, who had been left disabled by the Brighton bomb attack three years earlier.
From BBC
BirdLife has been collaborating with disabled workers from the Ocean View Assocication for Persons with Disabilities, training them to make the bird scarring lines.
From BBC
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.
