disoblige
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to refuse or neglect to oblige; act contrary to the desire or convenience of; fail to accommodate.
-
to give offense to; affront.
to be disobliged by a tactless remark.
-
to cause inconvenience to; incommode.
to be disobliged by an uninvited guest.
verb
-
to disregard the desires of
-
to slight; insult
-
informal to cause trouble or inconvenience to
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disoblige
1595–1605; < Middle French desobliger, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + obliger to oblige
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:
Mar. Do, that's a good Boy; and I won't disoblige him this two days.
From The Female Wits by Anonymous
She has married you because father or grandfather thought the match eligible, and because she didn't wish to disoblige them.
From International Short Stories American by Various
"I am sorry to disoblige you, Mr. Tom Thornton; but I must respectfully decline to give you any information on that point," I answered, firmly.
From Seek and Find or The Adventures of a Smart Boy by Oliver Optic
He disliked very much to disoblige her, as she belonged to one of the most distinguished families of Georgia, and had many influential relatives among the Secessionists.
From Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-'61 by Abner Doubleday
I shall endeavour, lady, and fail in nothing that is in my power to disoblige you; for there is none more ambitious of your ill opinion than I. Plea.
From A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume 14 of 15 by Robert Dodsley
There is a greatness and height in it, to love them that deserve not well of us, to be kind to the unfaithful, not to be easily provoked, and not soon disobliged.
From The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning
In the next place, he invariably disobliged, and refused the applications, of any persons on whose behalf he understood Lysander to be interested, and thus gradually undermined his power.
From Plutarch's Lives, Volume II by Aubrey Stewart
What sleepless nights has it cost you to win over the disobliged, to conciliate the discontented, to cajole the contumatious!
From Vivian Grey by Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield
His relations, however, seemed determined to push him forward in life, before he disobliged them by marrying the daughter of a country clergyman, an accomplished, sensible woman.
From Mary Wollstonecraft's Original Stories by Mary Wollstonecraft
He thought by this management that he should oblige both chiefs; whereas he highly disobliged the one, whose favour was of the most consequence to him, without gaining any reward from the other.
From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 by Robert Kerr
Granted, Sir Chris Bryant was almost as disobliging about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor 15 years ago, as an opposition MP, when there were calls then for him to be sacked as the government's trade envoy.
From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026
The reviewers were disobliging and they included me.
From The Guardian ● May 15, 2017
"You know, the great British portraitist. He was jealous of the prices she commanded and in his work Oriental Tales he was most disobliging about her. Said she was feeble and vulgar!"
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2015
Mr Poon's ancestors were dotted in random, disobliging clumps over the entire hillside, thus attesting to Wallace that key characteristics of that irksome family were transmitted beyond death itself.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 4, 2012
It is a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
