What does sabotaged mean?
Sabotaged is the past tense and past participle of sabotage, a word for deliberately damaging, disabling, obstructing, or undermining something. It is used when an action has been intentionally sabotaged rather than disrupted by accident or ordinary mechanical failure. The expression can refer to physical interference, such as disabling machinery or cutting communications, and to covert action that compromises plans, research, transport, or security. In journalistic and historical contexts, the word often suggests an organized attempt to cause harm or prevent an objective. Sabotaged is related to sabotage and to the noun saboteur, someone who carries out such interference. The term has a strongly negative connotation and implies intention, making it more precise than simply saying that something was damaged or stopped.
verbSabotaged is the past tense and past participle of sabotage, meaning to deliberately damage, obstruct, or undermine something.
- To deliberately damage, obstruct, or undermine something.
"The protesters sabotaged the railway tracks to prevent the convoy from moving."
"A faulty switch had sabotaged the entire communications network."
"The spy sabotaged the documents before they could be examined."
The word comes from French saboter, originally meaning “to cut shoes,” a reference to sabotaging footwear that harmed the wearer.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does sabotaged come from?
The word comes through French sabotage, which was derived from saboter, meaning “to cut shoes,” and ultimately from sabot, a wooden clog or shoe. The term originally referred to damaging a person's footwear, a traditional form of malicious obstruction, and later broadened to mean deliberate damage or disruption more generally. English borrowed sabotage in the 19th century, especially in accounts of political and industrial disruption.
Related word forms
How sabotaged is actually used
Sabotaged is an inflected verb form used as the past tense or past participle. It describes deliberate interference or damage and is commonly used in reports of military, industrial, political, or criminal disruption.
Easily confused with sabotaged
Sabotage is the base verb from which the past form sabotaged is formed; it can also function as a noun.