disoblige

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to inconvenience or disappoint someone by refusing a request or failing to accommodate their wishes

   She hated to disoblige her hosts, but she could not stay another night.

2. 2
   verb

   dated: to offend or alienate someone through discourtesy or an unkind act

   His public rebuke disobliged several long-standing supporters.

From Middle French desobliger, later understood in English as dis- + oblige. The family ultimately goes back to Latin obligare ("to bind"). An earlier sense, "release from an obligation," developed into "fail to oblige" and hence "inconvenience or offend."

Topics