disenable

American  

[dis-en-ey-buhl] / ˌdɪs ɛnˈeɪ bəl /

verb (used with object)

disenabled, disenabling

1. to deprive of ability; make unable; prevent.

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disenable British  

/ ˌdɪsɪˈneɪbəl /

verb

1. (tr) to cause to become incapable; prevent

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Other Word Forms

• disenablement noun

Etymology

Origin of disenable

First recorded in 1595–1605; dis- ¹ + enable

Example Sentences

They meant also to distress us by accumulating our seamen in their prisons; and this they imagined would disenable us from manning our men of war, or sending out privateers.

From A Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts, 2nd ed. Late A Surgeon On Board An American Privateer, Who Was Captured At Sea By The British, In May, Eighteen Hundred And Thirteen, And Was Confined First, At Melville Island, Halifax, Then At Chatham, In England ... And Last, At Dartmoor Prison. Interspersed With Observations, Anecdotes And Remarks, Tending To Illustrate The Moral And Political Characters Of Three Nations. To Which Is Added, A Correct Engraving Of Dartmoor Prison, Representing The Massacre Of American Prisoners, Written By Himself. by Waterhouse, Benjamin

Related Words

• cripple
• debilitate
• disable
• disarm
• impair
• incapacitate
• mangle
• mutilate
• paralyze
• shatter