incapacitate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
incapacitates,
present (3rd person singular)
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incapacitated,
past participle, past
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incapacitating
present participle
verb
-
to deprive of power, strength, or capacity; disable
-
to deprive of legal capacity or eligibility
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
incapacitatesimple
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incapacitatessimple
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have incapacitatedperfect
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has incapacitatedperfect
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am incapacitatingprogressive
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are incapacitatingprogressive
-
is incapacitatingprogressive
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have been incapacitatingperfect progressive
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has been incapacitatingperfect progressive
Past
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incapacitatedsimple
-
had incapacitatedperfect
-
was incapacitatingprogressive
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were incapacitatingprogressive
-
had been incapacitatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of incapacitate
First recorded in 1650–60; incapacit(y) + -ate 1
Explanation
If you are incapacitated, you can’t do what you normally do, what you’re being asked to do — or perhaps, much of anything. To incapacitate someone is to cause him or her to be unable to function normally, like a bad cold that incapacitates you. The verb incapacitate is related to the word capacity. Capacity comes from the Latin word capacitas, meaning “that can contain,” or how much something — brain, bucket or otherwise — can hold. The prefix in- reverses the meaning and when the suffix -ate is added, incapacitate means someone has been made unable to “contain” much — like attention, effort, or energy.
Vocabulary lists containing incapacitate
Uglies
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Children of Blood and Bone
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Artemis Fowl
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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:
“Viruses that are extremely lethal often tend to self-contain because they quickly kill or incapacitate their hosts,” said James, who now works with Australia’s Southern Cross University.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Electroshock weapons are designed to temporarily incapacitate suspects with a shock before police detain them.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
Kennedy said currently about 2,000 Scottish police officers are trained in the use of Tasers but there are too few of the devices, which can incapacitate a suspect, to be issued routinely.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
Police department officials have said repeatedly that, despite increased crisis intervention training and new “less-lethal” weapons designed to incapacitate rather than kill, officers are not always equipped to handle mental health calls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2025
If that black smoke could incapacitate Leo so quickly, what chance did she have?
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
You know, that thing that occasionally incapacitates him with guilt.
From Salon ● May 15, 2023
The designated survivor is the member of the Cabinet who remains outside the Capitol during the State of the Union in case a disaster incapacitates those in line for the presidency.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 1, 2022
Unless boxers are allowed to fight until one physically incapacitates the other — which is the way they actually competed at the ancient Olympic Games in 688 B.C. — decisions are an unfortunate necessity.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 1, 2021
She incapacitates Marc, the cops come, Liz comforts her two children, 16-year-old Zac and 6-year-old Molly, and life seems to return to an even keel.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 7, 2018
The laws of self-defence undoubtedly justify us in destroying those animals who would destroy us, who injure our properties, or annoy our persons; but not even these, whenever their situation incapacitates them from hurting us.
From The Illustrated London Reading Book by Various
At least 19 states, including New York, have a higher bar for the level of intoxication required to deem someone incapacitated and unable to consent.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
According to the Associated Press, 19 states say that an intoxicated person is only considered incapacitated — and therefore unable to consent — if they were given drugs or alcohol without knowing.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026
Don’t miss: ‘We fear financial exploitation’: Who will manage our finances if my wife and I become incapacitated?
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
For months, rumors circulated that he had actually died, was on life support or was otherwise incapacitated.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
This drug-resistant type of malaria began to appear among U.S. troops during the Vietnam War, in which more soldiers were incapacitated by the disease than by battle wounds.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
The Timms report finds that there’s been a surge in Brits under age 40 collecting benefits for incapacitating ADHD, autism, anxiety or depression.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
CS spray is a man-made incapacitating gas - exposure to it causes a burning sensation in the eyes and watering.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
Approaching objects may pose a threat, while a client’s elevated heart rate could indicate an incapacitating health emergency.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2025
Punitive and incapacitating ideologies are as antithetical to care as they are to rehabilitation.
From Slate ● May 11, 2023
This represents the kinds of things that must be done after the fact, in efforts to compensate for the incapacitating effects of certain diseases whose course one is unable to do very much about.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
