incapacitate
/ˌɪn.kəˈpæ.sɪ.teɪt/
"incapacitate" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“incapacitate” is an uncommon English word, ranked #62,217 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #62,217
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To make someone or something incapable of doing something; to disable.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | incapacitate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˌɪn.kəˈpæ.sɪ.teɪt/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #62,217 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “incapacitate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for incapacitate is 12 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌɪn.kəˈpæ.sɪ.teɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #62,217 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for incapacitate in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Mid-17th century, from incapacity + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French incapaciter. The correct English form is incapacitate, spelled I-N-C-A-P-A-C-I-T-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To make someone or something incapable of doing something; to disable.
- 2To make someone or something incapable of doing something; to disable.
- 3To make someone ineligible; to disqualify.
Etymology
Mid-17th century, from incapacity + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French incapaciter.
Synonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “incapacitate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-C-A-P-A-C-I-T-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɪn.kəˈpæ.sɪ.teɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.