Disability
noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A condition characterised by a significant limitation in a person's physical or intellectual powers or ability. countable
"people with disabilities"
- 2 the condition of being unable to perform as a consequence of physical or mental unfitness wordnet
- 3 The state of having such a condition; the state of being disabled. uncountable
"While physical and sensory disability is usually identified by asking a subject what he or she can or cannot do (with or without assistance), cognitive disability is assessed with a test such as a mental status questionnaire (MSQ)."
- 4 A limitation in function (the things that a person can do or achieve) that is driven by any combination of their impairments (the medical facts about them) and the imperfect state of society's inaccessibility that sometimes fails to accommodate their needs. countable
- 5 An inability. countable, obsolete
"Grossest faults, or disabilities to perform what was covenanted."
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- 6 A lack of legal qualification to do something; legal incapacity or incompetency. countable
- 7 Regular payments received by a disabled person, usually from the state. informal, uncountable
"I had to go on disability after the accident."
Example
More examples"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."
Etymology
Circa 1570 disable + -ity.
Related phrases
More for "disability"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.