disempowering

verb

present participle of disempower
as in disabling

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for disempowering
  1. disabling
  2. forbidding
Verb
  • The officer positioned themself ahead of the vehicle and deployed tire deflation devices, disabling the vehicle’s front driver’s-side tire, according to police.
    — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 30 Oct. 2026
  • In a historic settlement with 48 states in August, Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion and make significant changes to its apps for young users including setting time limits, disabling some filters and hiding like counts.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of disabling
Verb
  • But only a handful of souls have ever gone up the treacherous, unforgiving north face — 9,000 steep miles of snow, rock and ice with a gnarly gully given the forbidding name the Hornbein Couloir.
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2026
  • The political math is forbidding for Kozycki, even as Republicans nationwide scramble to defend once-friendly territory.
    — Greg Bluestein, AJC.com, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of forbidding
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

disempowered
disempowering
disempowers
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Disempowering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disempowering. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of wabi-sabi

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All