disable
to make unable or unfit; weaken or destroy the capability of; incapacitate: The detective successfully disabled the bomb.
to impair or injure (a person or animal) physically or mentally: The accident disabled him for life.
to make legally incapable; disqualify: Minors are legally disabled from entering into a contract.
Digital Technology. to make (a device, system, or feature) unable to function; turn off: Some of the car’s advanced safety features can be disabled.
Origin of disable
1Other words for disable
Other words from disable
- dis·a·ble·ment, noun
- dis·a·bler, noun
Words Nearby disable
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use disable in a sentence
When the researchers experimentally disabled a host’s FT gene, dodders no longer flowered.
This parasitic plant eavesdrops on its host to know when to flower | Jonathan Lambert | September 4, 2020 | Science NewsPower down your laptop, Socrates urges, disable Slack, and talk.
The business advice Socrates would give if he wrote a management book today | jakemeth | August 25, 2020 | FortuneFor starters, disabling NANOS2 does not definitively prevent the surrogate bull from producing some of its own sperm.
Biotechnology Could Change the Cattle Industry. Will It Succeed? | Dyllan Furness | August 16, 2020 | Singularity HubThe bacteria then use Cas9 to cut the DNA apart, which disables the virus.
A Renaissance of Genomics and Drugs Is Extending Human Longevity | Peter H. Diamandis, MD | June 26, 2020 | Singularity HubEven though disabling the Google search box might sound like a bizarre idea, I recommend considering this in particular cases.
Eight great tips for internal site search optimization | Marco Bonomo | June 18, 2020 | Search Engine Watch
This would seem to refute the new report that the captain alone would have been able to disable all the systems.
Her first move was to disable the “retweet cartels,” a setup that automatically retweets from preprogrammed users or hashtags.
The Champagne Tranarchist Who Hijacked Occupy’s Twitter Feed | Nina Strochlic | February 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, and Mali, we have to keep working with partners to disrupt and disable these networks.
Once you enslave a computer to do what you want, you disable it for real love.
It's true that if Republicans continue to disable themselves, Democrats have more freedom to indulge their progressive instincts.
No doubt the legion had suffered a defeat; but not such as to disable their continuance of the contest.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. | E. Farr and E. H. NolanThe main thing is to disable one's antagonist as quickly as possible, and Festing knew that Wilkinson would not be scrupulous.
The Girl From Keller's | Harold BindlossBut how do you disable a smooth-surfaced turtle-backed machine?
The Status Civilization | Robert SheckleyTo disable the pilot of the opposing aeroplane will be the first object.
Aviation in Peace and War | Sir Frederick Hugh SykesThis extra fatigue may possibly disable his horse, so that the animal cannot proceed further.
British Dictionary definitions for disable
/ (dɪsˈeɪbəl) /
to make ineffective, unfit, or incapable, as by crippling
to make or pronounce legally incapable
to switch off (an electronic device)
Derived forms of disable
- disablement, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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