sabotage

/ˌsæbəˈtɑʒ/

/ˈsæbətɒʒ/

Other forms: sabotaged; sabotaging; sabotages

Sabotage isn't very nice: It's when you ruin or disrupt something by messing up a part of it on purpose. Loosening the blades on your competitor's ice skates would definitely be considered sabotage.

Sabotage comes from the French word saboter, which literally means “walk noisily.” That's funny, because the last thing you'd want to do when committing an act of sabotage is stomp around and get caught. It’s believed that sabotage came into use in 1910 as a noun, and then later in 1918 as a verb. Apparently, people only became so cruel in the last century or so.

Definitions of sabotage

1. noun

   a deliberate act of destruction or disruption in which equipment is damaged
   types:

   bombing

   the use of bombs for sabotage; a tactic frequently used by terrorists

   suicide bombing

   a terrorist bombing carried out by someone who does not hope to survive it

   type of:

   destruction, devastation

   the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists
2. verb

   destroy property or hinder normal operations
   “The Resistance sabotaged railroad operations during the war”

   synonyms: counteract, countermine, subvert, undermine, weaken

   types:

   derail

   cause to run off the tracks

   type of:

   disobey

   refuse to go along with; refuse to follow; be disobedient