disability Meaning, Definition & Usage

Dis`a*bil"i*ty noun

Wordforms

plural Disabilities

Definitions

1. State of being disabled; deprivation or want of ability; absence of competent physical, intellectual, or moral power, means, fitness, and the like.

   Grossest faults, or disabilities to perform what was covenanted. Milton.

   Chatham refused to see him, pleading his disability. Bancroft.

2. Want of legal qualification to do a thing; legal incapacity or incompetency.

   The disabilities of idiocy, infancy, and coverture. Abbott.

   Syn. -- Weakness; inability; incompetence; impotence; incapacity; incompetency; disqualification. -- Disability, 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.