disable

English

Etymology

From dis- +‎ able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪsˈeɪbəl/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /dɪzˈeɪbəl/
• 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.

   • 2013, Steven McLaughlin, Clubland UK: On the Door in the Rave Era:

     Krav is a martial art of last resort that assumes no quarter and focuses purely on disarming, disabling and, if necessary, destroying your opponent.

   • 2016, Justin O. Schmidt, The Sting of the Wild, Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 102:

     Fire ants circumvented the problem of an ineffective sting by having an unusual and highly effective venom that when daubed or sprayed on other ants penetrates their waxy protective integumental barrier and kills or disables them.

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.

   • 2016, M. Marisaldi, A. Argan, A. Ursi, T. Gjesteland, F. Fuschino, C. Labanti, M. Galli, M. Tavani, C. Pittori, F. Verrecchia, F. D'Amico, N. Østgaard, S. Mereghetti, R. Campana, P.W. Cattaneo, A. Bulgarelli, S. Colafrancesco, S. Dietrich, F. Longo, F. Gianotti, P. Giommi, A. Rappoldi, M. Trifoglio, A. Trois, “Enhanced detection of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes by AGILE”, in arXiv‎^[2]:

     At the end of March 2015 the onboard software configuration of the AGILE satellite was modified in order to disable the veto signal of the anticoincidence shield for the minicalorimeter instrument.

Synonyms

• unable (nonstandard), see also Thesaurus:disable
• deactivate

Antonyms

• enable

Derived terms

• disability
• disableable
• disablement
• disableness
• disabler
• disablism
• disablist
• redisable

 

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 (fi)
• German: außerstand setzen (de), außerstande setzen, außer Stand setzen (de), außer Stande setzen
• Hindi: अक्षम (hi) (akṣam)
• 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)
• Hindi: विकलांग (hi) (viklāṅg), अपाहिज (hi) m (apāhij)
• 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 (niṣkriya karnā)
• Hungarian: kikapcsol (hu), deaktivál (hu), inaktivál (hu), 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:

     Our disable and unactive force.

Anagrams

• labside, baldies, basiled, diables

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