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# disable

«disable» in Mova's school dictionary: **To turn off a feature or machine so it does not work, for…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (disable, disables, disabled, disabling)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To turn off a feature or machine so it does not work, for example in an app or a phone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/#m1)

2) To stop something or someone from working properly, often by damaging it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/#m2)

3) To cause someone to have a disability, through injury or illness. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In computing lessons you disable a setting, sound or notifications; in safety, an alarm or a car can be disabled; in health topics an accident can disable a person; the adjective «disabled» names people with disabilities; phrases: «disable notifications», «disable the alarm», «disabled access».

### examples

- Ask an adult to disable in-app purchases on the tablet. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/#x1)
- The engineer disabled the alarm while he fixed it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/#x2)
- You can disable the sound in the game settings. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/#x3)
- The storm disabled the power lines. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/#x4)
- A bad fall disabled him for many months. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/#x5)
- The thief tried to disable the camera. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/#x6)
- Please do not disable the safety lock. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/#x7)

### note

Regular verb: disabled, disabling. Opposite: enable. Polite words: «disabled people» or «people with disabilities»; avoid old rude words like «cripple». A disabled toilet or parking space is for disabled people, not anyone.

### In the corpora

- ["Differently abled" means disabled; it is a polite, positive-sounding phrase.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/4-illness-disability-and-babies/6/)
- ["Physically challenged" means physically disabled; it is mostly American.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/4-illness-disability-and-babies/7/)
- [Brothers and sisters of disabled kids notice what others miss.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/506-a-sibling-with-a-disability-or-illness-or-who-left-home/4/)
- [Some words about disabled people are slurs that hurt deeply; telling a teacher is the right move.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/506-a-sibling-with-a-disability-or-illness-or-who-left-home/33/)
- [Disabled people campaigned for ramps and access, and rulers like the Mughal emperor Akbar showed long ago that respecting other faiths helps peace.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/69-rights-won-step-by-step-freedom-votes-and-children-s-rights/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «disable» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/disable/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.