incapacitate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
incapacitates,
present (3rd person singular)
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incapacitated,
past participle, past
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incapacitating
present participle
verb
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to deprive of power, strength, or capacity; disable
-
to deprive of legal capacity or eligibility
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
incapacitatesimple
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incapacitatessimple
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have incapacitatedperfect
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has incapacitatedperfect
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am incapacitatingprogressive
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are incapacitatingprogressive
-
is incapacitatingprogressive
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have been incapacitatingperfect progressive
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has been incapacitatingperfect progressive
Past
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incapacitatedsimple
-
had incapacitatedperfect
-
was incapacitatingprogressive
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were incapacitatingprogressive
-
had been incapacitatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of incapacitate
First recorded in 1650–60; incapacit(y) + -ate 1
Explanation
If you are incapacitated, you can’t do what you normally do, what you’re being asked to do — or perhaps, much of anything. To incapacitate someone is to cause him or her to be unable to function normally, like a bad cold that incapacitates you. The verb incapacitate is related to the word capacity. Capacity comes from the Latin word capacitas, meaning “that can contain,” or how much something — brain, bucket or otherwise — can hold. The prefix in- reverses the meaning and when the suffix -ate is added, incapacitate means someone has been made unable to “contain” much — like attention, effort, or energy.
Vocabulary lists containing incapacitate
Uglies
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Children of Blood and Bone
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Artemis Fowl
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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:
“Viruses that are extremely lethal often tend to self-contain because they quickly kill or incapacitate their hosts,” said James, who now works with Australia’s Southern Cross University.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Electroshock weapons are designed to temporarily incapacitate suspects with a shock before police detain them.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
Kennedy said currently about 2,000 Scottish police officers are trained in the use of Tasers but there are too few of the devices, which can incapacitate a suspect, to be issued routinely.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
Neither of the two collisions “was hard enough to incapacitate or disable” Contreras, said sheriff’s spokesperson Gloria Huerta.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2024
I commanded the voice before terror could incapacitate me.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
You know, that thing that occasionally incapacitates him with guilt.
From Salon ● May 15, 2023
Unless boxers are allowed to fight until one physically incapacitates the other — which is the way they actually competed at the ancient Olympic Games in 688 B.C. — decisions are an unfortunate necessity.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 1, 2021
“Most experts agree that if a GMD or EMP incapacitates an electrical grid, the grid will likely remain in a failed state from weeks to months,” the report said.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 5, 2018
Effective to a range of 30 feet, the Alternative incapacitates a person but would very rarely penetrate the skin, he said, citing ballistics tests using leather chamois, foam and gel to simulate the human body.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 3, 2015
That this tendency is on the whole a healthy one, I, at least, firmly believe, but it brings with it certain manifest limitations and somewhat incapacitates men from judging other types of character and happiness.
From The Map of Life Conduct and Character by William Edward Hartpole Lecky
At least 19 states, including New York, have a higher bar for the level of intoxication required to deem someone incapacitated and unable to consent.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
According to the Associated Press, 19 states say that an intoxicated person is only considered incapacitated — and therefore unable to consent — if they were given drugs or alcohol without knowing.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026
A trust can also provide continuity if one or both of you becomes incapacitated, allowing the successor trustee to manage trust assets without the need for court intervention.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Arizona State hockey player Matthew Mayich remains incapacitated more than two weeks after he collapsed during an outdoor team practice in Tempe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
‘Frank, Hazel, Leo... let’s talk. Piper, can you keep our friend musically incapacitated?’
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
The Timms report finds that there’s been a surge in Brits under age 40 collecting benefits for incapacitating ADHD, autism, anxiety or depression.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
CS spray is a man-made incapacitating gas - exposure to it causes a burning sensation in the eyes and watering.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
Lights, noises, smells and crowds that others barely notice may cause incapacitating anxiety.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
Approaching objects may pose a threat, while a client’s elevated heart rate could indicate an incapacitating health emergency.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025
This represents the kinds of things that must be done after the fact, in efforts to compensate for the incapacitating effects of certain diseases whose course one is unable to do very much about.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
