From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsabotagesab‧o‧tage1 /ˈsæbətɑːʒ/ verb [transitive] 1 DAMAGEto secretly damage or destroy equipment, vehicles etc that belong to an enemy or opponent, so that they cannot be used Every single plane had been sabotaged.► see thesaurus at damage2 SPOILto deliberately spoil someone’s plans because you do not want them to succeed Demonstrators have sabotaged the conference.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
sabotage• The plane's landing gear had been sabotaged.• Security lighting was sabotaged before the theft took place.• The railway line had been sabotaged by enemy commandos.• Some smashing clips were sabotaged by the usual sloppy Watchmaker research.• The first attempt, in 1960, was sabotaged by the wife-stabbing.• Her father sabotaged her acting ambitions by refusing to let her go to drama school.• Mitchell accused the party of trying to sabotage his campaign.• Executives said there can be no compensation because the well was sabotaged, something community leaders reluctantly acknowledged.• Because it can not cope with so many messages, its only recourse is to sabotage the airwaves themselves.• The attack is being seen as a deliberate attempt to sabotage the peace talks.• Gesner was obviously determined to sabotage the whole Season.sabotagesabotage2 noun [uncountable] DAMAGEdeliberate damage that is done to equipment, vehicles etc in order to prevent an enemy or opponent from using them The terrorists were planning acts of sabotage to destabilize the country. industrial sabotageExamples from the Corpus
sabotage• Armed soldiers patrol the airbase to guard against sabotage.• Their acts of blockade and sabotage had been only sporadic: their chief action was simply to be there.• Experts believed the crash to be due to pilot error, and sabotage was virtually ruled out of the investigation.• The amnesty did not include those accused of offences relating to drugs, murder, economic sabotage or armed robbery.• I do not believe his sabotage notion for one moment.• What if Everett's putative murderer had been the intended victim of sabotage rather than its practitioner?• They wore army fatigues and played brooding games of gin rummy, listening to dull rumbles from the sabotage site.• Ditto with the sabotage of an Amtrak train near Phoenix six months later.• The rebels stopped their sabotage of the power distribution network.• If there is no scientific mystery, then sabotage is the only explanation.acts of sabotage• Each pledged to desist from slander, vilification and acts of sabotage.• Now that the partisans were well organized in the Province of Parma they committed many acts of sabotage.• It accused Mr Mandela of carrying out acts of sabotage on dates when he was in prison.• I repeat that we deal here with speech alone, not with speech plus acts of sabotage or unlawful conduct.From Longman Business Dictionarysabotagesab‧o‧tage /ˈsæbətɑːʒ/ verb [transitive]1to secretly damage or destroy equipment, vehicles etc that belong to an enemy or opponent, so that they cannot be usedThere are fears that striking workers may try to sabotage the plant.2to deliberately spoil someone’s plans because you do not want them to succeedHe’s trying to sabotage my career.Why would anyone want to sabotage the deal? —sabotage noun [uncountable]The airline was investigating an apparent case of industrial sabotage after a jetliner in the final stages of production failed certain tests.→ See Verb tableOrigin sabotage2 (1800-1900) French saboter “to walk along noisily, do work badly, sabotage”, from sabot “wooden shoe” 