Disallow

//ˌdɪsəˈlaʊ// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To refuse to allow.

    "The prisoners were disallowed to contact with a lawyer."

  2. 2
    command against wordnet
  3. 3
    To reject as invalid, untrue, or improper.

    "The goal was disallowed because the player was offside."

  4. 4
    To overrule a colonial legislation by the sovereign-in-privy council. UK, historical

Synonyms

All synonyms
forbidabjureabolishassert the contrarybanbar

Example

More examples

"Decision to disallow Medicaid for second cochlea implant withdrawn."

Etymology

From Middle English disallowen, desallowen, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman desalouer, Old French desalöer. By surface analysis, dis- + allow.

More for "disallow"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.