disable/enable=switch off/on (?)

[GeneD]

Do "disable" and "enable" mean "switch off/on"? If not, what's the difference between them?

 

[Rover_KE]

It depends on the context, which you haven't given.

If I wanted my daughter to switch the light on I wouldn't say 'Please enable the light'.

 

[GoesStation]

Enable and disable are widely used in computing and engineering. When a menu option is "greyed out" and not available, it's disabled.

 

[GeneD]

Sorry for not providing any context. I was just looking through some words in a word family list, and having come across "enable/disable" and looked them up in a couple of dictionaries, I got the impression that in some contexts they have a similar meaning to "switch on/off" and maybe even the same. There are a lot of examples in one of the dictionaries I'm using (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/disable):

• ‘The raiders tried to disable the alarm system.’
  ‘They should all be disabled by default and enabled only as needed.’
• ‘I tap into the system, causing the doors to unlock and disabling the car alarm.’
• ‘Auditing is disabled by default; enable only one or two options that are necessary.’
• ‘Can branch staff disable a filter without needing the system administrator's password?’
• ‘Improved car security has meant thieves now go for car keys so they can disable immobilisers and alarms.’
• ‘The telephone line to her home was cut by the raiders and the burglar alarm was disabled.’
• ‘At the same time, you must overtake the security guards, disengage the alarm system, and disable the security cameras.’
• ‘At midnight on Halloween 1989, his agents picked 13 locks and disabled two alarm systems to plant a bug in the Gambino offices.’
• ‘After making sure the building's alarm system was disabled, they climbed through the hole and then into the space above the ceiling.’
• ‘Home alarm devices can be disabled by a crafty intruder.’
• ‘Second, the text of the statute authorizes the library to disable a filter.’
• ‘Users can operate the stage without rotation and disable the touch alarm if required.’
• ‘There is no patch, but a perfectly good workaround is simply to disable scripting.’
• ‘Nvidia Firewall 2.0 was disabled for this test.’
• ‘Police officers called to investigate the burglary at Martin's believe it was carried out by professionals, who cut telephone lines before entering the building and made attempts to disable the alarm system.’
• ‘They disabled an alarm system at a store by cutting through live wires at a Telecom junction box which put thousands of phones in the region out of action.’
• ‘But in a break-in at the weekend thieves forced open a toilet window, disabled the alarm system and put plastic bags over the CCTV cameras.’
• ‘Ma said the rainfall drowned the station's cooling system, thus disabling it and paralyzing the pumping station.’
• ‘Don't disable smoke alarms even temporarily - you may forget to replace the battery.’
• ‘Can library staff readily either unblock a specific site or disable the filter entirely?’

It seems to be a matter of style to choose from the two pairs of verbs (if I understand you all correctly).

 

[Rover_KE]

In some of those examples it's not a matter of style but simply incorrect to say 'disable' instead of 'switch off', as disabling often involves damaging the appliances.

Eg, when I enter my house I don't disable the intruder alarm by cutting through the wires: I switch off – or deactivate it by entering the code.