sabotage

1 of 2

noun

sab·​o·​tage ˈsa-bə-ˌtäzh How to pronounce sabotage (audio)
1
: destruction of an employer's property (such as tools or materials) or the hindering of manufacturing by discontented workers
2
: destructive or obstructive action carried on by a civilian or enemy agent to hinder a nation's war effort
3
a
: an act or process tending to hamper or hurt
b
: deliberate subversion

sabotage

2 of 2

verb

sabotaged; sabotaging

transitive verb

: to practice sabotage on

Examples of sabotage in a Sentence

Noun Angry workers were responsible for the sabotage of the machines. Officials have not yet ruled out sabotage as a possible cause of the crash. Verb They sabotaged the enemy's oil fields. The airplane crashed because it was sabotaged. The lawyer is trying to sabotage the case by creating confusion. The deal was sabotaged by an angry employee.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Though an investigation into the episode is still underway, many security experts suspect sabotage. Johanna Lemola, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2024 Bugas analyzed security at Ford, producing a 12-page report about preventing theft and sabotage. Jack Kresnak, Detroit Free Press, 28 Jan. 2024 While global shipping has already been disrupted through the Red Sea, a crucial route for cargo and energy shipments from Asia and the Middle East to Europe, the sabotage of telecommunication lines could further escalate the monthslong crisis. Jon Gambrell, Quartz, 4 Mar. 2024 In Herbert’s 1965 novel, Thufir remains a key part of the story after House Harkonnen’s deadly sabotage of the Atreides on Arrakis. Jack Smart, Peoplemag, 4 Mar. 2024 In the past, there have been construction accidents that have cut fiberoptic cables, incidents of sabotage or network updates filled with bugs that became difficult to roll back. Catherine Thorbecke, CNN, 22 Feb. 2024 Contact your lawyer and put a stop to her intentional sabotage. Jeanne Phillips, The Mercury News, 2 Feb. 2024 The blasts were widely considered to be the result of sabotage. Anna Cooban, CNN, 11 Oct. 2023 How about design flaws of those animatronic exoskeletons?) and a motley crew of vandals bent on sabotage. Jen Yamato, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2023
Verb
Several of the sellers who spoke to Fortune said that the company’s marketplace has become a safer place to do business over the past year or two, with the company doing a better job of policing nefarious merchants who sabotage competitor listings. Jason Del Rey, Fortune, 1 Mar. 2024 In the end, her pregnancy will be simulated, sabotaged or terminated without her knowledge or consent. Amanda Hess, New York Times, 29 Feb. 2024 Instead, marketing agencies should focus on tactics that maximize profit without sabotaging the team’s ability to deliver great results for their clients. Nick Leighton, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024 Taking a page from history, Washington should recognize that China, North Korea, and Russia will sabotage their triangular alignment all on their own. Oriana Skylar Mastro, Foreign Affairs, 19 Feb. 2024 There are tons of misconceptions around fitness that can sabotage you before you even step foot into a gym, from believing your body needs to look a certain way to glorifying soreness as the mark of a successful session. Kira Onysko, SELF, 10 Jan. 2024 If cybercriminals exploiting loopholes isn't enough, there is also a threat of competitors attempting to sabotage business growth. Oleksandr Strozhemin, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024 At the time, Mr. Trump’s national security team, including the defense secretary, Jim Mattis, and two successive national security advisers, H.R. McMaster and John R. Bolton, scrambled to keep Mr. Trump from sabotaging the cornerstone of European defense strategy. David E. Sanger, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2024 That’s because our government may soon vote to betray startups by sabotaging their business model. Jennifer C. Cheng, The Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sabotage.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

French, from saboter to clatter with sabots, botch, sabotage, from sabot

First Known Use

Noun

1910, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1913, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of sabotage was in 1910

Dictionary Entries Near sabotage

Cite this Entry

“Sabotage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sabotage. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

sabotage

1 of 2 noun
sab·​o·​tage ˈsab-ə-ˌtäzh How to pronounce sabotage (audio)
1
: destruction of an employer's property or the action of making it difficult to work by discontented workers
2
: destructive or blocking action carried on by enemy agents or sympathizers to make a nation's war effort more difficult

sabotage

2 of 2 verb
sabotaged; sabotaging
: to practice sabotage on : wreck
Etymology

Noun

from French sabotage "destruction of property to hinder a manufacturing or war effort," from saboter "to clatter around wearing sabots, botch," from sabot "a wooden shoe"

Word Origin
Because the word sabotage appears related to French sabot, "wooden shoe," some people have thought that in the first cases of sabotage in France, industrial workers must have thrown their sabots into machinery in order to damage it. In fact, there is no evidence for such an etymology. The French verb saboter is known in the sense "to damage an employer's property" in the early 1900s but this meaning is perhaps based on an earlier sense "to carry out clumsily, botch, bungle," first attested in 1808. This meaning is in turn usually explained as proceeding from a yet older sense, "to make a clattering noise with sabots," on the premise that walking with wooden shoes suggests clumsy performance. It is hard to know if these diverse meanings are a single line of development, or if the associations evoked in Frenchmen by this piece of peasant footwear brought about episodes of verb creation from the same noun.

Legal Definition

sabotage

noun
sab·​o·​tage ˈsa-bə-ˌtäzh How to pronounce sabotage (audio)
1
: the willful destruction of an employer's property or the hindering of normal operations by other means
2
: the injury, destruction, or knowingly defective production of materials, premises, or utilities used for war or national defense compare criminal syndicalism, sedition
Etymology

Noun

French, from saboter to clatter with wooden shoes, botch, sabotage, from sabot wooden shoe

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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