disable

/dəˈseɪbəl/

/dɪsˈeɪbəl/

Other forms: disabled; disabling; disables

When an injury disables someone, it leaves the person seriously hurt, probably for the rest of their life. If a car accident disables you, you are permanently limited in some physical way.

Illness, as well as injury, can disable people: for example, diabetes disables some sufferers by leaving them blind or weakening their hearts. A completely different way to disable is to make something unusable or unable to work in a certain way. if you disable your smoke detector while you cook nachos in your smoky oven, it won't work until you reconnect the batteries.

Definitions of disable

1. verb

   injure permanently
   synonyms: handicap, incapacitate, invalid

   types:

   hock

   disable by cutting the hock

   type of:

   injure, wound

   cause injuries or bodily harm to
2. verb

   make unable to perform a certain action
   “disable this command on your computer”

   synonyms: disenable, incapacitate

   antonyms:

   enable

   render capable or able for some task

   types:

   lay up

   disable or confine, as with an illness

   nobble

   disable by drugging

   pinion

   cut the wings off (of birds)

   confine, hold, restrain

   to close within bounds, limit or hold back from movement

   bind, tie down, tie up, truss

   secure with or as if with ropes

   fetter, shackle

   restrain with fetters

   enchain

   restrain or bind with chains

   pinion, shackle

   bind the arms of

   impound, pound

   place or shut up in a pound

   pound, pound up

   shut up or confine in any enclosure or within any bounds or limits

   fold, pen up

   confine in a fold, like sheep

   ground

   confine or restrict to the ground

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation