disable

To render unable; to take away an ability of, as by crippling.

Adjective

  1. Lacking ability; unable.
    • Our disable and unactive force. - 1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon...

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des-bor. ▲ Latin dis-bor. Middle English dis- English dis- Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰéh₁yeti Proto-Italic *haβēō Latin habeō Proto-Indo-European *-elis Proto-Italic *-elis Latin -ilis Latin habilis Old French ablebor. Middle English able English able English disable From dis- + able.

Forms

more disable most disable

Verb

  1. To render unable; to take away an ability of, as by crippling.
  2. To impair the physical or mental abilities of; to cause a serious, permanent injury.
    • Falling off the horse disabled him.
    • Krav is a martial art of last resort that assumes no quarter and focuses purely on disarming, disabling and, if necessary, destroying your opponent. - 2013, Steven McLaughlin, Clubland UK: On the Door in the Rave Era:
    • Fire ants circumvented the problem of an ineffective sting by having an unusual and highly effective venom that when daubed or sprayed on other ants penetrates their waxy protective integumental barrier and kills or...
  3. To deactivate, to make inoperational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).
    • The pilot had to disable the autopilot of his airplane.
    • At the end of March 2015 the onboard software configuration of the AGILE satellite was modified in order to disable the veto signal of the anticoincidence shield for the minicalorimeter instrument. - 2016, M. Marisaldi,...

Forms

disables disabling disabled

Synonyms

unable deactivate disable disenable cripple incapacitate

Antonyms

enable capacitate re-enable

Hypernyms

damage debilitate deteriorate devitalize empayre harm hinder hurt injure impair worsen

Hyponyms

blind blinden deafen disfigure founder lame paralyse maim mangle mutilate hamstring hock hough hox castrate desex emasculate fix geld neuter spay unsex debuff nerf

Related

attack

Derived

disability disableable disablement disableness disabler disablism disablist redisable