Adjacent Words

Disable definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DISABLE, v.t. [dis and able.]
1. To render unable; to deprive of competent natural strength or power. A man is disabled to walk by a broken or paralytic leg, by sickness, etc.
2. To deprive of mental power, as by destroying or weakening the understanding.
3. To deprive of adequate means, instruments or resources. A nation may be disabled to carry on war by want of money. The loss of a ship may disable a man to prosecute commerce, or to pay his debts.
4. To destroy the strength; or to weaken and impair so as to render incapable of action, service or resistance. A fleet is disabled by a storm, or by a battle. A ship is disabled by the loss of her masts or spars.
5. To destroy or impair and weaken the means which render any thing active, efficacious or useful; to destroy or diminish any competent means.
6. To deprive of legal qualifications, or competent power; to incapacitate; to render incapable.
An attainder of the ancestor corrupts the blood and disables his children to inherit.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make unable to perform a certain action; "disable this command on your computer" [syn: disable, disenable, incapacitate] [ant: enable]
2: injure permanently; "He was disabled in a car accident" [syn: disable, invalid, incapacitate, handicap]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (disabled; disabling) Date: 15th century 1. to deprive of legal right, qualification, or capacity 2. to make incapable or ineffective; especially to deprive of physical, moral, or intellectual strength Synonyms: see weaken • disablement noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 render unable to function; deprive of an ability. 2 (often as disabled adj.) deprive of or reduce the power to walk or do other normal activities, esp. by crippling. Derivatives: disablement n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Disable Dis*a"ble, a. Lacking ability; unable. [Obs.] ``Our disable and unactive force.'' --Daniel.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Disable Dis*a"ble (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Disabled; p. pr. & vb. n. Disabling.] 1. To render unable or incapable; to destroy the force, vigor, or power of action of; to deprive of competent physical or intellectual power; to incapacitate; to disqualify; to make incompetent or unfit for service; to impair. A Christian's life is a perpetual exercise, a wrestling and warfare, for which sensual pleasure disables him. --Jer. Taylor. And had performed it, if my known offense Had not disabled me. --Milton. I have disabled mine estate. --Shak. 2. (Law) To deprive of legal right or qualification; to render legally incapable. An attainder of the ancestor corrupts the blood, and disables his children to inherit. --Blackstone. 3. To deprive of that which gives value or estimation; to declare lacking in competency; to disparage; to undervalue. [Obs.] ``He disabled my judgment.'' --Shak. Syn: To weaken; unfit; disqualify; incapacitate.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(disables, disabling, disabled) 1. If an injury or illness disables someone, it affects them so badly that it restricts the way that they can live their life. She did all this tendon damage and it really disabled her... Although disabled by polio during the Second World War, Proctor was also a first-rate helmsman. VERB: V n, V-ed • disabling ...skin ulcers which are disfiguring and sometimes disabling. ADJ 2. If someone or something disables a system or mechanism, they stop it working, usually temporarily. ...if you need to disable a car alarm. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Weaken, enfeeble, cripple, paralyze, unman, deprive of strength. 2. Disqualify, incapacitate, disenable, unfit, make incapable.

Moby Thesaurus

afflict, attenuate, batter, blunt, bugger, castrate, cripple, de-energize, debilitate, derange, devitalize, disarm, disenable, disorder, drain, emasculate, enervate, enfeeble, hamstring, harm, hobble, hors de combat, hospitalize, hurt, immobilize, inactivate, incapacitate, indispose, invalid, kibosh, lame, lay up, maim, mangle, mar, mutilate, prostrate, put, queer, queer the works, reduce, ruin, sabotage, sap, sicken, spike, spoil, unbrace, undermine, unfit, unstrengthen, weaken, wing, wreck