invalid
1 Americannoun
-
invalids
plural
-
an infirm or sickly person.
-
a person who is too sick or weak to take care of their own needs.
My father was an invalid the last ten years of his life.
-
Archaic. a member of the armed forces disabled for active service.
adjective
-
unable to care for oneself due to infirmity or disability.
his invalid sister.
-
of or for invalids.
invalid diets.
-
(of things) in poor or weakened condition.
the invalid state of his rocking chair.
verb (used with object)
-
invalids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
invalided,
past participle, past
-
invaliding
present participle
-
to affect with disease; make an invalid.
He was invalided for life.
-
to remove from or classify as not able to perform active service, as an invalid.
-
British. to remove or evacuate (military personnel) from an active theater of operations because of injury or illness.
verb (used without object)
-
invalids,
present (3rd person singular)
-
invalided,
past participle, past
-
invaliding
present participle
adjective
-
not valid; not founded in truth, fact, or logic, and hence weak and indefensible; unsound; untenable.
The entire argument depends on an invalid assumption.
- Synonyms:
- incorrect, inaccurate, false, erroneous, unsubstantiated, unfounded, groundless, baseless
-
deficient in effectiveness; inadequate.
Self-perception is an invalid method of judging one's own biases.
-
void or without legal force, as a contract.
Without the grandfather clause, thousands of such warranties would now be invalid. The coupon is invalid in our state.
- Synonyms:
- null and void
-
not accepted or permitted because a required element or the necessary form is lacking; not usable.
Anything with fewer than five characters is an invalid password, and you’ll get an error message prompting you to pick something more secure.
noun
adjective
verb
-
to cause to become an invalid; disable
-
(usually foll by out; often passive) to require (a member of the armed forces) to retire from active service through wounds or illness
adjective
-
not valid; having no cogency or legal force
-
logic (of an argument) having a conclusion that does not follow from the premises: it may be false when the premises are all true; not valid
Usage
It is best to avoid using the term invalid when referring to people with chronic illnesses or disabilities
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
invalidsimple
-
invalidssimple
-
have invalidedperfect
-
has invalidedperfect
-
am invalidingprogressive
-
are invalidingprogressive
-
is invalidingprogressive
-
have been invalidingperfect progressive
-
has been invalidingperfect progressive
Past
-
invalidedsimple
-
had invalidedperfect
-
was invalidingprogressive
-
were invalidingprogressive
-
had been invalidingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of invalid1
First recorded in 1635–45; from French invalide, from Latin invalidus “weak, feeble, infirm”; See in- 3, valid
Origin of invalid2
First recorded in 1630–40; from Latin invalidus “weak, feeble”; see invalid 1
Explanation
A person who is very sick or injured and needs frequent care is an invalid. Also, something no longer current or useful is invalid. The main uses of this word have to do with people and things that don't work very well anymore. A driver's license that has expired is invalid — it needs to be renewed. If you lost your health insurance, it's invalid. People who are called invalids are disabled or incapacitated severely. Be careful with this word, because some think it is inappropriate, since it sounds as if some people are not as valid as others based on physical capability.
Vocabulary lists containing invalid
"Sorry, Wrong Number," Vocabulary from the play
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"Sorry, Wrong Number," Vocabulary from the play
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The Suffix -id, Part 1
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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:
However, the insurer told them any claim on their travel insurance for the funds they have lost would be invalid because air traffic issues were outside of the policy.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
A three-judge bench ruled that the pardon granted by then president Maithripala Sirisena in May 2019 was "arbitrary and invalid".
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
But Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier nonetheless sought to intervene in Simpson’s case, arguing in filings that the surrogacy agreement was invalid and Zhou hadn’t proved parentage under Florida law.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Asylum cases must be filed within a year of entry in the country, and an invalid claim could lead to deportation proceedings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Ferula looked after her as obsessively as if she had been an invalid.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
Patient outcomes varied depending on whether you asked the officer who lost fighters, the ferryman who shuttled the sick, the doctor who treated invalids or the adjutant who buried bodies.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 23, 2022
Pandemics, mansions, triangles, illnesses, abandonments, deaths, letters and inheritances also kaleidoscopically reappear, as do grandfathers, lovers, invalids, caretakers, utopians and more.
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2022
British food manufacturers and brother duo James and William Horlick created malted milk powder as a nutritional supplement marketed for "infants and invalids."
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2021
Wealthy invalids flocked to the south Devon town for its sunshine and sea air.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 15, 2021
By this time, Vincent and McNeish were complete invalids and stayed in the cave in a stupor.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Last August, the U.S. military’s top appeals court upheld Bergdahl’s conviction, rejecting arguments that public comments by Trump and McCain should have invalided his prosecution, Military.com reported.
From Fox News ● Feb. 18, 2021
In 1941 he enlisted in the US Navy but was invalided out two years later because of injury and, in November 1943, he married his former classmate Diana Dill.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2020
He knows that the old songs give “the invalided and senile a musical opportunity to re-court their wives, re-raise their children and re-fight their wars.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2017
Just as Connie Willis salutes the resilience of Brits in her fiction about England during World War II, Kowal pays similar tribute in this novel through her depiction of grandmotherly Mrs. Richardson and invalided Lt.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 4, 2016
December brought wild and stormy weather, which did not, however, interfere with our customary activities; and many of our fathers were at this time out giving missions, or temporary assistance to invalided or absent priests.
From A New Medley of Memories by David Hunter-Blair
There he called on Senator James A. .Reed of Missouri, who is invaliding from a recent illness.
From Time Magazine Archive
That evening Dr Thompson made the captain’s punch, having carefully locked up in his largest tea-chest his invaliding suit.
From Rattlin the Reefer by Frederick Marryat
This was the first time Aubrey had been considered in condition for such festivities, and the gratification of being superior to somebody might account for his glee in invaliding his friend.
From The Trial by Charlotte Mary Yonge
A number of medical officers convened to examine sick and wounded officers and men, for invaliding or discharge.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
Sent back by me eventually to Korogwe with a letter advising his invaliding out of the country, he opened and read my report upon the way.
From Sketches of the East Africa Campaign by Robert Valentine Dolbey
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.
