disqualify

/dɪsˈkwɑlɪˌfaɪ/
/dɪsˈkwɒlɪfaɪ/
IPA guide

Other forms: disqualified; disqualifying; disqualifies

To disqualify someone is to not allow them to participate, or to make them unfit for participation. Turning eleven would disqualify a person from playing on a soccer team for kids ten and under.

Judges will disqualify a marathon runner if they discover she's actually wearing roller skates, and a baseball player's age may disqualify him from playing on a certain team. Being blind disqualifies people from driving, and a criminal history can disqualify someone from working at a school. Disqualify adds the "do the opposite of" prefix dis- to qualify, which comes from the medieval Latin root qualificare, "to attribute a quality to."

Definitions of disqualify
  1. verb
    make unfit or unsuitable
    “Your income disqualifies you”
    synonyms: indispose, unfit
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    qualify
    make fit or prepared
    type of:
    alter, change, modify
    cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
  2. verb
    declare unfit
    “She was disqualified for the Olympics because she was a professional athlete”
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    qualify
    pronounce fit or able
    types:
    recuse
    disqualify oneself (as a judge) in a particular case
    disbar
    remove from the bar; expel from the practice of law by official action
    type of:
    judge, label, pronounce
    pronounce judgment on
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Word Family

Vocabulary lists containing disqualify

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Power Prefix: dis-

Meaning "not" or "opposite of," this common prefix is used in words like disagree ("to be of different or conflicting opinions") and disgust ("a strong feeling of dislike"). Learn these words that contain the prefix dis-. Want to increase your prefix power? Learn our complete set of Power Prefix lists: anti-, con-, dis-, ex-, fore-, inter-, mis-, pre-, pro-, sub-, super-, trans-, uni-

view more about the vocabulary list
dis-

Meaning "not" or "opposite of," this common prefix is used in words like disagree ("to be of different or conflicting opinions") and disgust ("a strong feeling of dislike"). Learn these words that contain the prefix dis-.

view more about the vocabulary list
"Stone Fox" by John Reynolds Gardiner

In this classic novel, a boy enters a dogsled race in the hopes of winning enough money to save his grandfather's farm.

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