Offend (someone) by not acting in accordance with their wishes: one didn’t disoblige them if one could help it
More example sentences
- We can only suspect that the Italian institutions which felt unable to yield the Botticellis that had been requested offered these paintings instead to satisfy those who were frightened to disoblige the president of the French Senate.
- Above all, you must strive not to disoblige those offstage figures, unsuspected by the ordinary reader.
- She ‘married, in the common phrase, to disoblige her family, and by fixing on a Lieutenant of Marines, without education, fortune, or connections, did it very thoroughly’.
Late 16th century (in the sense 'release from an obligation'): from French désobliger, based on Latin obligare 'oblige'.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: dis|oblige
Definition of disoblige in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.