disservice

noun dis·ser·vice \ (ˌ)di(s)-ˈsər-vəs \

Updated on: 21 Apr 2018

Definition of disservice

: ill service : harm; also : an unhelpful, unkind, or harmful act

misinformation that does a disservice to readers

See disservice defined for English-language learners

See disservice defined for kids

Examples of disservice in a Sentence

Her comments were a disservice to those volunteers.
you do a great disservice to the professionals at the day-care center when you refer to them as “babysitters”

Recent Examples of disservice from the Web

By not showing the tournament live on any platform, the networks and the Tour did the fans and themselves a disservice.

— daniel rapaport, SI.com, "FORE Questions: No Live Coverage of the RBC Heritage, Is Jon Rahm Underrated?," 16 Apr. 2018
When McCool accused Robbins of doing a disservice to the #MeToo movement, Robbins said that the accusers were misusing their anger and harming men in the process.

— lauren stiller rikleen, Fortune, "Commentary: Tony Robbins Claims He Wants to Help #MeToo. Here’s How He Can Start.," 10 Apr. 2018
This is, to put it gently, a disservice Harris did to his audience.

— ezra klein, Vox, "Sam Harris, Charles Murray, and the allure of race science," 27 Mar. 2018
That attitude has done a disservice to the hundreds of millions of people who are trying to make change.

— kristine m. kierzek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Former Obama chef dreams of a better world," 2 Apr. 2018
What Justice Stevens' Op-Ed Gets Wrong About the Second Amendment By giving only cursory treatment to a drastic proposal, the New York Times does a disservice to gun safety advocates everywhere.

— jay willis, GQ, "What Justice Stevens' Op-Ed Gets Wrong About the Second Amendment," 27 Mar. 2018
Denying this reality by not labeling disproportionality as a civil-rights concern does a disservice to our youth.

— valerie strauss, Washington Post, "Why DeVos’s plan to delay Obama-era rule on minority special-education students is a mistake," 20 Mar. 2018
The attorney general appears to have done a disservice to the American people by announcing the conclusion of a high-profile investigation without providing the public with a full accounting of the facts.

— josh campbell, Anchorage Daily News, "Americans need to know the truth about McCabe," 19 Mar. 2018
Father Jenkins’s decision also does a disservice to Notre Dame’s faculty and students.

— alexandra desanctis, WSJ, "Notre Dame Becomes a Bit Less Catholic," 8 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'disservice.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.