Disablings

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of making a device, system or mechanism inoperative or unable to function ; the act of weakening or impairing a person's physical or mental capacity
2. Rendering machinery, equipment or software unusable or non-functional ; causing someone to lose or lose use of an ability, sense or faculty
3. Making something inert or incapable of working properly ; reducing a person's capacity for normal activity through injury or condition

Etymology: "Disablings" is the plural of "disabling," the present participle and gerund of "disable." The verb is formed from the prefix "dis-", meaning reversal or removal, and "able," which comes via Old French "hable" from Latin "habilis," meaning "handy" or "fit." So "disable" literally undoes ability: to take away the capacity to do something. The verb's core sense, to make unable or to incapacitate, is the older and more familiar one, and it describes people and bodies most readily. The sense of rendering machines, software or systems unusable came later, as electronics and computing made it natural to say a device had been disabled, switched off or sabotaged rather than broken. The plural form "disablings" is used mainly for repeated or distinct acts of rendering things unusable, such as several features being turned off or several components being incapacitated across a system.

Synonyms: incapacitate, cripple, impair, handicap, immobilize

Antonyms: enable, empower, activate, strengthen