deskill

[ dee-skil ]

verb (used with object)

1. to remove any need of skill, judgment, or initiative in:

   jobs being deskilled by automation.

deskill

/ diːˈskɪl /

verb

1. to mechanize or computerize (a job or process) to such an extent that little human skill is required to do it
2. to cause (skilled persons or a labour force) to work at a job that does not utilize their skills

Derived Forms

• deˈskilling, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of deskill¹

de- + skill ¹

Example Sentences

To break through this bottleneck, farm animals’ entire life course is manipulated to further deskill workers.

From The Guardian

Other scholars have demonstrated how the preponderance of women “has contributed to pressure to strengthen bureaucratic controls over teacher behaviour and to ’deskill’ the profession.”

From The Guardian

Both political parties have implemented reforms that “teach for the test,” weaken unions, deskill teachers, and wage a frontal assault on the imagination of students through disciplinary measures that amount to pedagogies of repression.

From Salon

Second, officers sense that predictive policing is part of a push to deskill the profession.

From Nature

The RMT said it did not agree with the minister's comments, and said the dispute was not about compulsory redundancies, but Serco's plans to "deskill" and "casualise" the industry, removing long-term career prospects on some of the most dangerous shipping lanes in Europe.

From BBC

Related Words

• underemploy