disable

English

Etymology

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.

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 (fi)
• 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 (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

• baldies, bidales, diables, labside

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