Dis'-a-bĭl'i-ty, n.

n. [From disable.] 1. State of being disabled; deprivation of ability; want of competent physical or intellectual power, means, opportunity, and the like; incapacity; incompetency. Chatham refused to see him, pleading his disability. Bancroft. 2. Want of legal qualification; legal incapacity or incompetency. Syn.—Weakness; inability; incompetence; impotence; incapacity.—DISABILITY, INABILITY. Inability is an inherent want of power to perform the thing in question; disability arises from some deprivation or loss of the needed competency. One who becomes deranged is under a disability of holding his estate; and one who is made a judge, of deciding in his own case. A man may decline an office on account of his inability to discharge its duties; he may refuse to accept a trust or employment on account of some disability which prevents him from entering into such engagements.