incapacitate
/ˌɪnkəˈpasɪteɪt
/verb [with object]
1Prevent from functioning in a normal way: he was incapacitated by a heart attack...
- The battle was over, and the only knight preventing his retreat was incapacitated.
- This largely incapacitates the biological function.
- He came by last night and attacked my servants, mortally wounding one and incapacitating the other and threatened me with my life if I didn't hand the gems over.
Synonyms
disabled, debilitated, indisposed, unfit;
immobilized, paralysed, out of action, out of commission;
French hors de combat
informal laid up
1.1 Law Deprive (someone) of their legal capacity.The finding against us was that the worker did not show to the satisfaction of the review officer that he was incapacitated at the point in time he was seeking wages, workers' compensation payments and nothing more....
- Those physical injuries incapacitated her for her former job, but it was not suggested that they incapacitated her wholly.
- The plaintiff's case at trial was simply that she was totally incapacitated.
Derivatives
incapacitation
/ noun ...- Patients whose postoperative courses were worse than expected cited reasons such as unanticipated pain, fatigue, and more incapacitation than expected.
- A chemical weapon can be ‘any chemical which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm’.
- ‘The baton gun is much more accurate [than it was] and results in temporary incapacitation of the person without long-term injuries,’ he said.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from incapacity + -ate3.