disqualification

Etymology

It is formed from English disqualify + -fication, as a noun of action from the verb,^[2][3][4][5] although Merriam-Webster and Barnhart analyse it as dis- and qualification.^[6][7] Barnhart suggests it may have been modelled on French déqualification, and that the verb, which he dates to 1723, may itself be a back-formation from the noun;^[7] Etymonline dates the verb to 1718, implied in the participle.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

That which disqualifies, a ground of unfitness: 1714, in T. Tickell's contribution to The Spectator no. 608.^[2][6] Barnhart dates it to 1711–14, in Addison and Steele's The Spectator.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) knew only the first sense, "that which makes unfit", quoting The Spectator.^[8] The sense of the act of disqualifying, or the state of being disqualified, especially legal incapacity, is first recorded in 1770, in Burke's Thoughts on the Present Discontents.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1714 – a ground or cause of unfitness, in The Spectator.^[2][6][7]
• 1770 – the act of disqualifying; the state of being disqualified, in Burke.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of disqualifying, or the state of being disqualified, as from office or from a competition: The runner's disqualification followed a false start.^[9][6][2]
2. Something that disqualifies or makes unfit: A record of fraud is a disqualification for the post.^[9][6][2]

Related words

• disqualify
• qualify
• qualification

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt