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:
Further analysis showed that their particular variant did not completely disable the gene.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
Asheville’s mayor, facing a challenge from Roney, scheduled a vote in late August to disable the cameras.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 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
Young people would also have the option to choose to view a non-algorithmic social media feed that isn’t personalized and disable autoplay.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
If I can disable it, they can only find us on the surface with our heat signature.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
The FIA system automatically disables overtake mode when there is a red flag.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
The virus that sparked a global pandemic still regularly infects, disables and kills hundreds of people per week.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
It disables specific growth enzymes in grass weeds, while the same enzymes in crops like soybeans remain unaffected.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
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
Hemophilia is caused by a single mutation that disables a protein in the clotting of blood.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
In July, Paris’s Museum of Natural History suffered an undetected cyberattack that disabled its alarm and surveillance systems, police said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Disabled Motoring UK and Equal Lives, two Norfolk-based disability charities, previously warned blue badge users frequently face abuse and suspicion from other drivers when parking in disabled bays.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
"The more portrayals that we see on TV, that's going to inspire more disabled people to think it's a career for them," he says.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
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
For the immediate future, our partnership with the Oakland Police Department has been suspended, and the metal detectors have been disabled.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
The effort underscores the challenge of fully disabling the country’s missile program.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 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
Now, after disabling about 30 of the devices near his home in the Minneapolis area, he told AFP: "I'm not really as scared anymore."
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
"The problem is the industry has a very poor reputation of disabling games once they end support," said Scott Ross, co-founder of consumer rights group Stop Killing Games, following Rockstar's announcement.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
She once saved a mission by disabling an Indonesian passenger train using only “some rando stuff I found in the snack bar.”
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
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