disoblige
Americanverb (used with object)
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to refuse or neglect to oblige; act contrary to the desire or convenience of; fail to accommodate.
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to give offense to; affront.
to be disobliged by a tactless remark.
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to cause inconvenience to; incommode.
to be disobliged by an uninvited guest.
verb
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to disregard the desires of
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to slight; insult
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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:
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
Sorry to disoblige, old fellow, but I'm on duty where Miss Verbena is now, you see, as she's just promised to be my wife.
From Mr Punch's Model Music Hall Songs and Dramas Collected, Improved and Re-arranged from Punch by Anstey, F.
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 Dodsley, Robert
I will teach you to dare importune Mr. Gorgibus, and plague him with your absurdities!——Ah! my brother … ——Hold your tongue, I tell you.——I would not disoblige … —— … Be silent, rascal.——
From The Flying Doctor (Le Médecin Volant) by Wall, Charles Heron
Sorry to disoblige, old feller, but I'm on duty where Miss Verbena is now, you see, as she's just promised to be my wife.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98, March 29, 1890 by Various
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 Stewart, Aubrey
I would not have disobliged you for the price of two such mares.
From McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader by McGuffey, William Holmes
The fellow, with a sort of dejection in his looks, asked me if he had disobliged me in anything?
From Memoirs of a Cavalier A Military Journal of the Wars in Germany, and the Wars in England. From the Year 1632 to the Year 1648. by Defoe, Daniel
We are all apt, you know, my dear, to praise our benefactors, because they are our benefactors; as if every body did right or wrong, as they obliged or disobliged us.
From Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 1 by Richardson, Samuel
You have, as he says, disobliged a gentleman, the initial letters of whose name are P. T.
From Calamities and Quarrels of Authors by Disraeli, Isaac
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
A few are offering the odd disobliging word about Mr Dowden, suggesting he never wanted to be party chairman in the first place and was very disappointed to be demoted from being culture secretary.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2022
Ireland, with the images of Jack Charlton's side incised on the national consciousness forever, have been seen at times as a disobliging bunch.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 11, 2012
After such outlay, it was disobliging to score only 60 times in the league last season and City were a hindrance to themselves.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 22, 2011
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.
