sabotage
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To deliberately destroy or damage something to prevent it from being successful.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sabuhtahzhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsæbətɑʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To deliberately destroy or damage something in order to prevent it from being successful.
noun
A deliberate act of destruction or disruption in which equipment is damaged
A deliberate action aimed at weakening someone (or something, a nation, etc) or preventing them from being successful, through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To deliberately destroy or damage something in order to prevent it from being successful.
Used this way, sabotage is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use sabotage
- “The Resistance sabotaged railroad operations during the war.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Counterintelligence designed to detect and counteract sabotage.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to deliberately destroy
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.