disable

disable

English

Etymology

dis- +‎ able

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪsˈeɪbəl/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /dɪzˈeɪbəl/[1]
• Rhymes: -eɪbəl

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Verb

disable (third-person singular simple present disables, present participle disabling, simple past and past participle disabled)

1. (transitive) To render unable; to take away an ability of, as by crippling.
2. (chiefly of a person) To impair the physical or mental abilities of; to cause a serious, permanent injury.

   Falling off the horse disabled him.

3. (chiefly electronics, computing) 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.

Synonyms

• unable (non-standard), see also Thesaurus:disable
• deactivate

Antonyms

• enable

Derived terms

• disablement

Translations

to render unable; to take away the ability

Afrikaans: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: правя неспособен (pravja nesposoben) Dutch: onmogelijk maken Esperanto: malebligi Estonian: halvama Finnish: tehdä toimintakyvyttömäksi, lamauttaa (fi), estää German: außerstand setzen (de), außerstande setzen, außer Stand setzen (de), außer Stande setzen Hungarian: megbénít (hu), elgyengít (hu), használhatatlanná tesz Ido: nekapabligar (io) Italian: disabilitare (it) Japanese: 無力化する (muryoku-ka suru) Latin: dēbilitō Maori: whakakaurapa Norwegian: passivisere, utmanøvrere, sette ut av stand til, deaktivere Polish: dezaktywować impf, zdezaktywować pf Portuguese: desabilitar (pt) Russian: де́лать неспосо́бным impf (délatʹ nesposóbnym) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: онеспосо̀бити pf Roman: onesposòbiti (sh) pf Spanish: inutilizar (es) Swedish: sätta ur stånd

to impair the physical or mental abilities of

Afrikaans: onbekwaam maak Estonian: sandistama Finnish: vammauttaa (fi) German: behindern (de) Hungarian: munkaképtelenné tesz, megnyomorít (hu), megbénít (hu) Maori: whakahauā Norwegian: funksjonshemme, gjøre funksjonshemmet Portuguese: aleijar (pt), incapacitar Russian: кале́чить (ru) impf (kaléčitʹ), покале́чить (ru) pf (pokaléčitʹ) (maim, cripple) Spanish: incapacitar (es), discapacitar (es), mutilar (es)

to deactivate a function of an electronic or mechanical device

Afrikaans: afskakel (af), deaktiveer (af) Amharic: አሰናክል (ʾäsänakl) Armenian: անջատել (hy) (anǰatel) Azerbaijani: deaktivləşdirmək, sıradan çıxartmaq Basque: desaktibatu Belarusian: дэактываваць impf or pf (deaktyvavacʹ), адключаць impf (adključacʹ), выключаць impf (vyključacʹ) Bulgarian: изключвам (bg) (izključvam), деактивирам (deaktiviram) Catalan: desactivar (ca) Czech: vypnout (cs), deaktivovat (cs) Dutch: uitschakelen (nl), deactiveren (nl) Esperanto: senaktivigi, malaktivigi, malŝalti, elŝalti, malvalidigi Estonian: lukustama, välja lülitama, deaktiveerima Finnish: kytkeä pois päältä, laittaa pois päältä, poistaa käytöstä, deaktivoida French: désactiver (fr) Georgian: გამორთავს (gamortavs), თიშავს (tišavs) German: deaktivieren (de), abschalten (de) Greek: απενεργοποιώ (el) (apenergopoió) Hindi: निष्क्रिय करना (niṣkriy karnā) Hungarian: kikapcsol (hu), deaktivál, inaktivál, letilt (hu), kiiktat (hu), üzemen kívül helyez Indonesian: mematikan (id), menonaktifkan (id), mendisfungsikan Italian: disattivare (it), disabilitare (it) Japanese: 無効にする (ja) (mukō ni suru) Javanese: ꦩꦠꦼꦤꦶ (mateni) Latvian: izslēgt Lithuanian: išjungti Macedonian: исклучува (isklučuva), деактивира (deaktivira) Malay: mematikan, menyahaktifkan Maori: mono Nepali: बन्द गर्नु (banda garnu), निष्क्रिय गर्नु (niṣkriya garnu) Norwegian: deaktivere Polish: wyłączać (pl) impf, wyłączyć (pl) pf, dezaktywować impf, zdezaktywować pf, blokować (pl) impf, zablokować (pl) pf Portuguese: desabilitar (pt), desativar (pt), desligar (pt) Romanian: dezactiva (ro) Russian: деактиви́ровать (ru) impf or pf (deaktivírovatʹ), отключа́ть (ru) impf (otključátʹ), выключа́ть (ru) impf (vyključátʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: искљу́чити pf, деактиви́рати impf or pf, блоки́рати impf or pf Roman: iskljúčiti (sh) pf, deaktivírati impf or pf, blokírati (sh) impf or pf Slovak: vypnúť, deaktivovať Slovene: izključiti, izklopiti, ugasniti Spanish: desactivar (es), deshabilitar Sundanese: ᮍᮔᮧᮔᮊ᮪ᮒᮤᮕ᮪ᮊᮩᮔ᮪ (nganonaktipkeun), ᮙᮛᮩᮙᮔ᮪ (mareuman) Swahili: kuzima Swedish: inaktivera (sv), avaktivera (sv) Turkish: devre dışı bırakmak Turkmen: öçürmek, işlemeýän etmek Ukrainian: деактивувати impf or pf (deaktyvuvaty), вимикати impf (vymykaty), відключати impf (vidključaty) Urdu: بند کرنا‎

Adjective

disable (comparative more disable, superlative most disable)

1. (obsolete) Lacking ability; unable.
   • 1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson, OCLC 28470143:

     Our disable and unactive force.

References

1. Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎, volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 6.64, page 203.

Anagrams

• baldies, bidales, diables, labside

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Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪsebl/, /ˈdɪʃebl/

Verb

disable (third-person singular simple present disables, present participle disablein, simple past disablet, past participle disablet)

1. disable, disqualify