Meaning & use
incapacitated
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableformal
Too ill, injured or weak to do the things one normally can, either for a short time or for good.
Grammar: Used after be or a linking verb: he was incapacitated. Also before a noun.
Patterns
- be incapacitated by something
- incapacitated by illness
A bad back left her incapacitated for two weeks.
The driver was incapacitated by a sudden seizure.
His incapacitated father needed daily care.
adjectivenot comparablelegal
Legally declared unable to make decisions about money or health, so that someone else must act for the person.
Grammar: Used in law and medicine: an incapacitated adult.
Patterns
- an incapacitated person
- legally incapacitated
A guardian was appointed for the incapacitated adult.
If you become incapacitated, a trusted friend can sign for you.
The court ruled that he was incapacitated and could not manage his estate.
Common combinations
- temporarily incapacitated
- The pilot was temporarily incapacitated by a fever.
- incapacitated by illness
- She was incapacitated by illness for a month.
- legally incapacitated
- A legally incapacitated person needs a guardian.
- become incapacitated
- If I become incapacitated, my sister will decide.
- mentally incapacitated
- Mentally incapacitated defendants may not stand trial.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disabled
- Disabled usually describes a lasting condition, while incapacitated often stresses a moment or period when one cannot function.
- laid up
- Laid up is informal and means stuck in bed or unable to move about because of illness or injury.
- helpless
- Helpless describes being unable to defend or help oneself, but it does not need an illness.
- out of action
- Out of action is informal and can describe machines as well as people.
Opposites
Word family
- incapacitate verb
- to make someone unable to function
- incapacity noun
- inability to do something
- incapacitating adjective
- causing inability to function
- capacity noun
- the ability to do something
Commonly confused: incapacitated or incapable?
incapacitated vs incapable
Incapable means lacking the ability to do something in general, whereas incapacitated means unable to function because of a particular cause.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'incapacitated' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Incapacitated is an adjective that follows left him or was. It is not followed by of or to plus a verb, and it is not an intransitive verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incapacitated”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.