How to Use inoperable in a Sentence

inoperable

adjective
Definition of inoperablenext
Synonyms for inoperablenext
  • The device makes the car inoperable when a key is not used to start it.
  • In the air for the first leg of the flight, Mock discovered that her long-range radio was inoperable.
    — Lucia Cheng, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Aug. 2022
  • All five of the business’ shrimp boats were rendered inoperable by damage from the storm.
    — New York Times, 1 Feb. 2022
  • Despite the fact the set was revealed to have been inoperable even before Sale ripped it off the WooSox tunnel wall and destroyed it in a fit of anger, the 33-year-old pro made amends.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 11 July 2022
  • The 6-year-old boy had been fighting an inoperable brain tumor for 10 months.
    — Liz Szabo, USA TODAY, 14 Sep. 2022
  • That might render an A.T.M. card inoperable for a few days.
    — Tara Siegel Bernard, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2023
  • One nurse was killed; a whole wing was rendered inoperable.
    — Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2022
  • Four were in drawers and inoperable, one was on the ceiling but did not have a battery, and another was on the floor of a bedroom without a battery.
    — Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 11 Jan. 2022
  • The Broward County Sheriff’s Department did not want to take the unloaded, inoperable firearm back to the jury room at that time.
    — Dakin Andone, CNN, 13 Oct. 2022
  • The shelter’s fire alarm system was inoperable; the heat cut off in the winter; and the family daily battled mice and roaches.
    — New York Times, 30 Sep. 2021
  • Mason has an inoperable tumor growing in nerves on the left side of his face, Mr. Konsitzke said, and has been diagnosed with autism.
    — Amy Dockser Marcus, WSJ, 6 Sep. 2022
  • After the couple worked on the car together for an hour, the vehicle was still inoperable.
    — Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 5 Oct. 2023
  • The device becomes inoperable if someone tries to mess with that.
    — WIRED, 9 Nov. 2023
  • Many gas stations are inoperable or don't have fuel -- and those that do have people waiting outside them for hours.
    — Jason Hanna and Travis Caldwell, CNN, 4 Sep. 2021
  • Once the due date hits, laptops will reboot and become inoperable.
    — Chandra Fleming, Detroit Free Press, 1 Dec. 2022
  • Officers tried to pursue the vehicle, but one of the cruisers became inoperable and the pursuit was stopped.
    — Mike Mavredakis, Hartford Courant, 28 Nov. 2022
  • Minutes before she was set to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt earlier this week, Israeli airstrikes left the crossing inoperable.
    — Noreen Nasir, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2023
  • Singer/songwriter Jesse Malin suffered a rare, inoperable spinal cord stroke last month that has left him paralyzed from the waist down.
    — Spin Staff, SPIN, 14 June 2023
  • The recent storms have crippled travel and left dozens of highways inoperable.
    — Nouran Salahieh, CNN, 12 Jan. 2023
  • Francis was in fourth grade at the time, but seven years later the water fountains in question remain inoperable.
    — Megan Christie, ABC News, 17 Nov. 2023
  • Rich Powers, his owner, said the cause was an inoperable cancer.
    — Talya Minsberg, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2023
  • Much of Lowndes County is too spread out for central sewer lines to be cost-effective, and the dense clay soil makes many septic systems inoperable.
    — Dennis Pillion | Dpillion@al.com, al, 7 June 2023
  • Video of the aftermath shows drivers exiting their vehicles and walking down the road as tow trucks move inoperable cars to a nearby lot.
    — CBS News, 4 Nov. 2022
  • In essence, a major American naval asset is now inoperable because the personnel aboard fooled around and then found out—the hard way—that the sea is an unforgiving place.
    — Craig Hooper, Forbes, 8 Nov. 2021
  • The command and control servers used by both variants used domain names that remained dormant for long stretches of time, during which the rootkit would be inoperable.
    — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 26 July 2022
  • Buckhorn schools backed up much of their materials on external hard drives that are now soaked and inoperable.
    — Phil McCausland, NBC News, 31 Aug. 2022
  • Upon touching down at the Oxford airport, the plane’s landing gear became inoperable and the aircraft was damaged while skidding to a final rest.
    — Jesse Leavenworth, courant.com, 7 Aug. 2021
  • However, the crash caused significant damage to the tracks that could leave the railway line inoperable for several days, Bounds said.
    — Ryan Ballogg The Bradenton Herald (tns), al, 28 Feb. 2023
  • Al-Qahtani told reporters that the airport’s radar was now active and covering some 70 miles after U.S. forces left it inoperable.
    — Kathy Gannon, USA TODAY, 9 Sep. 2021
  • What’s more, losing control of one of those limbs can easily render the machine inoperable.
    — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 1 June 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inoperable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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