indispose
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make ill, especially slightly.
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to put out of the proper condition for something; make unfit.
The long tennis match indisposed me for any further physical activity that day.
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to render averse or unwilling; disincline.
His anger indisposed him from helping.
verb
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to make unwilling or opposed; disincline
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to cause to feel ill
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to make unfit (for something or to do something)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of indispose
First recorded in 1650–60; back formation from indisposed
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:
All his jealousy is actively alive to the smallest shade of fault, although his feelings so much indispose him to see any blemish.
From Autobiography of a Pocket-Handkerchief by James Fenimore Cooper
The cause in which this document was written will indispose the candid reader to any criticism of its somewhat exuberant language.
From White Slavery in the Barbary States by Charles Sumner
I haven't signed it, as my unmeaning name would perhaps indispose the fellow to see much good in it.
From Born in Exile by George Gissing
May not some persons even entertain the apprehension, that it will indispose them to such pursuits?
From Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin by Eighth Earl of Elgin James
"Yass'm," persisted the waiter, "he dah now, in bed; slightly indispose'."
From Gideon's Band A Tale of the Mississippi by George Washington Cable
When she arrives at their imposing Vermont mansion to go through Verity’s notes, Lowen discovers that Verity’s a vegetable: completely physically and mentally indisposed after a car accident.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Entertaining down to the last minute, the Bastille Opera finally opened its season with a sad-faced functionary who stepped in front of the curtain to tell us that the “Simone Boccanegra” baritone was indisposed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
Austin will transfer authority to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks while he is indisposed, the Pentagon said.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
The Pittsburgh Steelers went into Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders with an indisposed defense and left with the squad in worse shape, but it appears that there’s hope.
From Fox News ● Sep. 21, 2021
Within a year she was dismissing servants, ordering about his household knights, even speaking for his lordship when he was indisposed.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Ah me, that a man be self-subsistent, original, true, or what we call it, is surely the farthest in the world from indisposing him to reverence and believe other men's truth!
From On Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle
Four motives appear to me to have been puissant in indisposing Englishmen to the Northerners.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 100, February, 1866 by Various
The theological romanticism of Lacordaire and of Montalembert was not much more appreciated by them, the dogmatic ignorance and the very weak reasoning powers of this school indisposing them against it.
From Recollections of My Youth by Ernest Renan
Wherefore we should never suffer them to be dissolved into levity, or disordered into a wanton frame, indisposing us for religious thoughts and actions.
From Sermons on Evil-Speaking by Isaac Barrow
For the most part the influence of the bath is limited to abating their severity, shortening their duration, and indisposing to their return.
From The Mother's Manual of Children's Diseases by Charles West
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.
