Disqualified

How to spell disqualified

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce disqualified

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does disqualified mean?

1. verbDeclared ineligible or barred from a competition, role, or activity because of a rule breach or failure to meet a requirement.
2. adjectiveNo longer eligible or permitted to take part, having been formally ruled out.

Disqualified in a sentence

• verb

  The runner was disqualified for a false start.

• adjective

  The disqualified driver was banned from the road for a year.

• verb

  The panel disqualified two applicants who had falsified their records.

• adjective

  A disqualified candidate cannot appear on the final ballot.

Where does disqualified come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word ultimately traces back to the Latin qualis, meaning 'of what kind' or 'of what sort', the same root that gives us 'quality' and 'qualification'. Medieval Latin formed qualificare, 'to attribute a quality to', which passed into French as qualifier and into English in the 1500s as 'qualify', meaning to make fit or eligible. Adding the prefix dis-, which reverses or undoes an action, produced 'disqualify', literally to strip away the qualities or eligibility that made someone fit. The -ed ending then marks the past tense and the participle. Because the spelling keeps the silent 'i' of -ify and the 'qu' that English inherited straight from Latin, writers sometimes hesitate over the middle of the word, but tracing it to qualis (kind) and -ify (make) keeps the parts in order.

How the word is built

• dis- (reverse, remove)
• qual (from Latin qualis: of what kind)
• -ify (to make)
• -ed (past tense / participle suffix)