disable

Formsdisables, disabling, disabled

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To deactivate a function of an electronic or mechanical device so that it stops operating.

   Engineers can disable the safety lock remotely while the line is being serviced.

   The technician disabled the faulty sensor before rebooting the controller.

   Similardeactivate, disengage

   Oppositeenable, activate

   Note

   In engineering and computing the object is usually a function, not the whole machine: a pilot disables the autopilot, and in 2015 the AGILE satellite's software was reconfigured to disable one veto signal. The component stays physically in place. It is switched off, typically by clearing an enabling setting or breaking a signal path. That deliberate, targeted switching-off separates it from the damage sense.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To render someone or something unable; to take away an ability, as by crippling.

   The stroke disabled her right arm almost completely.

   Severe damage to the engine can disable the entire vessel.

   Similarincapacitate, cripple, paralyze, immobilize

   Note

   The base meaning wears its construction openly: dis- reverses able, so to disable is to undo an ability. It always takes a direct object, whether a person, a limb or a machine, and the cause usually stands as subject: a stroke disables an arm, damage disables a ship. The same pairing once also made an adjective, the obsolete 'unable' sense.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To impair someone's physical or mental abilities, causing a serious and permanent injury.

   The disease slowly disabled his ability to walk.

   Repeated blows to the head can disable a fighter for years afterward.

   Similarimpair, incapacitate, cripple, maim

   Note

   Writing about combat and predation uses this sense as the step short of killing. A martial art is said to focus on disarming, disabling and, if necessary, destroying an opponent. In Justin O. Schmidt's The Sting of the Wild (2016), fire ant venom kills or disables rival ants. Pairing it with kill or destroy marks the harm as serious but stopping before death.

Showing meanings only. Show all 4