out of commission

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English

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Prepositional phrase

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out of commission

  1. Not operational; not functioning properly.
    Synonyms: broken, out of order, out of service; see also Thesaurus:out of order
    • 1909, Mary Roberts Rinehart, “At the Table Next”, in The Man in Lower Ten, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, page 200:
      One pair of handcuffs will put both hands out of commission.
    • 1962 June, “Diesel economy analysed—a postscript”, in Modern Railways, page 422:
      At the same time, the valves, pistons, motion and brakegear plus ancillary equipment is overhauled, putting the locomotive out of commission for about 26 to 30 days.
    • 2008 July 2, Scot Lehigh, “Making (no) sense of police details”, in Boston Globe:
      A traffic light was out of commission, leaving motorists to sort their way through an occasionally busy intersection.

Usage notes

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  • Sometimes used in the expression "to put out of commission," meaning "to make inoperative."