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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

disable.

To render unable; to take away an ability of, as by crippling.

7 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/dɪsˈeɪbəl//dɪzˈeɪbəl/obsolete

  1. To render unable; to take away an ability of, as by crippling.

    transitive

  2. To impair the physical or mental abilities of; to cause a serious, permanent injury.

    Falling off the horse disabled him.

  3. To deactivate, to make inoperational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).

    The pilot had to disable the autopilot of his airplane.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des-bor. ▲ Latin dis-bor. Middle English dis- English dis- Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰéh₁yeti Proto-Italic *haβēō Latin habeō Proto-Indo-European *-elis Proto-Italic *-elis Latin -ilis Latin habilis Old French ablebor. Middle English able English able English disable From dis- + able.

adj/dɪsˈeɪbəl//dɪzˈeɪbəl/obsolete

  1. Lacking ability; unable.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ▲ Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu. Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des-bor. ▲ Latin dis-bor. Middle English dis- English dis- Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰéh₁yeti Proto-Italic *haβēō Latin habeō Proto-Indo-European *-elis Proto-Italic *-elis Latin -ilis Latin habilis Old French ablebor. Middle English able English able English disable From dis- + able.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.