sabotage
Americannoun
-
any underhand interference with production, work, etc., in a plant, factory, etc., as by enemy agents during wartime or by employees during a trade dispute.
-
any undermining of a cause.
verb (used with object)
-
sabotages,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sabotaged,
past participle, past
-
sabotaging
present participle
noun
-
the deliberate destruction, disruption, or damage of equipment, a public service, etc, as by enemy agents, dissatisfied employees, etc
-
any similar action or behaviour
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sabotagesimple
-
sabotagessimple
-
have sabotagedperfect
-
has sabotagedperfect
-
am sabotagingprogressive
-
are sabotagingprogressive
-
is sabotagingprogressive
-
have been sabotagingperfect progressive
-
has been sabotagingperfect progressive
Past
-
sabotagedsimple
-
had sabotagedperfect
-
was sabotagingprogressive
-
were sabotagingprogressive
-
had been sabotagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sabotage
First recorded in 1865–70; from French, from sabot(er) “to botch,” originally, “to harry, shake up, strike” (verb derivative of sabot sabot ) + -age -age
Explanation
Sabotage isn't very nice: It's when you ruin or disrupt something by messing up a part of it on purpose. Loosening the blades on your competitor's ice skates would definitely be considered sabotage. Sabotage comes from the French word saboter, which literally means “walk noisily.” That's funny, because the last thing you'd want to do when committing an act of sabotage is stomp around and get caught. It’s believed that sabotage came into use in 1910 as a noun, and then later in 1918 as a verb. Apparently, people only became so cruel in the last century or so.
Vocabulary lists containing sabotage
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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:
And has he gone to Ipswich to sabotage them?
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
With the state report complete, and vigilante sabotage ruled out, Mulholland retook the inquest stand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Wegner himself said earlier this month he would not run for re-election after months of criticism over his handling of a major blackout in January apparently caused by sabotage.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
New proposed laws in the U.K. seek to increase penalties for subsea sabotage, updating codes that date to when telegraph cables were first laid in the 19th century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
He also mentioned their training at Hitler's sabotage school and how the focus of the mission was to sabotage war production in the United States.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
She triply underlines her feminist themes and nearly sabotages her own clever creation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
Ms. Moyer-Nocchi repeatedly, bewilderingly sabotages her considerable achievements by not bothering to get small but significant particulars right.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
Clodio wears a dress — because he insists, “Revenge is best in a dress” — and giddily kicks his feet in manic joy as he sabotages things.
From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2024
Ankara said the one-sided declaration was “a step that sabotages the normalization process.”
From Seattle Times ● May 13, 2024
"Then the Earthman—I mean the Earthman who sabotages the rockets—has to be a part of the technical staff," Rick said.
From The Scarlet Lake Mystery by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin
Africa's largest oil producer has increased production in recent years in part by cracking down on theft while also hiring former militants who sabotaged pipelines to act as security.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
According to police, the suspect is believed to have sabotaged the payment system via a cyber attack, getting the system to authorise his transaction after entering only one cent as the charged amount.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
Grantham’s latest bearish case is that U.S. stocks could be sabotaged this year by an overheated IPO market.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 17, 2026
Todt died in an air crash shortly afterward, leading to suspicions that his plane had been sabotaged, though these have never been proved.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025
From the three sabotaged machines, the payloads veered sideways, arcing towards the barrage from the other three onagers.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Barrot said the attacks targeted government ministries, companies, and service operators, with the aim "either of capturing information or sabotaging operations, for example rail infrastructure, as was the case in Poland".
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
This week I am looking at the big picture, sharing words of caution to avoid sabotaging future prospects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
Inside the legal system, though, McLaughlin is known for something else: Actively sabotaging the Department of Homeland Security in court through her crass, often false public statements.
From Slate ● Feb. 18, 2026
“We are sabotaging ourselves,” she said, adding: “You can’t address a housing crisis with a policy that worsens our housing shortage. You just can’t.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2026
And while he wasn’t thrilled about spending nights at the trailer, it was the only surefire way to stop the delinquents— or whoever was sabotaging the construction site—from jumping the fence and going wild.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
