Disability
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /dɪsəˈbɪlɪti/
Full definition of disability
Noun
disability
(usually uncountable; plural disabilities)- State of being disabled; deprivation or want of ability; absence of competent physical, intellectual, or moral power, means, fitness, and the like.
- unknown date, John MiltonGrossest faults, or disabilities to perform what was covenanted.
- unknown date, George BancroftChatham refused to see him, pleading his disability.
- Want of legal qualification to do a thing; legal incapacity or incompetency.
- unknown date, Benjamin Vaughan Abbott.The disabilities of idiocy, infancy, and coverture.
- (uncountable, informal) Regular payments received by a disabled person, usually from the stateI had to go on disability after the accident.Did you get your disability this month?
Usage notes
Disability and inability: Inability is an inherent want of power to perform the thing in question; disability arises from some deprivation or loss of the needed competency. One who becomes deranged is under a disability of holding his estate; and one who is made a judge, of deciding in his own case. A man may decline an office on account of his inability to discharge its duties; he may refuse to accept a trust or employment on account of some disability prevents him from entering into such engagements.