Meaning

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

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To render unable; to take away an ability of, as by crippling.
2. (chiefly of a person) To impair the physical or mental abilities of; to cause a serious, permanent injury.
3. (chiefly electronics, computing) To deactivate, to make inoperational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).
4. (obsolete) Lacking ability; unable.

Example Sentences

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.

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 disables them.

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.

Our disable and unactive force.

Word Forms

• disables
• disabling
• disabled
• more disable
• most disable

Synonyms for disable

Antonyms for disable

Related Words

When Should You Use Disable?

Use disable when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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