Invalid [ɪnˈvælɪd] means not valid or not correct: an invalid ticket, an invalid password. It's used about documents, tickets and data, not about people. People are described differently: say a disabled person or, in more careful language, a person with a disability. The noun invalid, stressed on the first syllable and meaning “a person who is ill and needs care”, is still in dictionaries, but it sounds old-fashioned and can offend.
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an invalid + ticket/passport/password; be/become + invalid; disabled people / people with disabilities (not invalids)
- The website keeps telling me my password is invalid, although I'm sure it's right.
- A contract without both signatures is invalid, so please sign on page three.
What changed
First versionThe new metro station has lifts for invalids.
RevisionThe new metro station has lifts for people with disabilities.
Dictionaries still list the noun invalid, and in some languages a similar word is used for disabled people, so lifts for invalids can seem correct. But in modern English this word sounds old-fashioned and hurtful when used about people. Say for people with disabilities or for disabled people. Invalid is neutral only when it means “not valid”.
On websites and in apps, invalid means “incorrect, not accepted”: Invalid email address. The opposite is valid, “officially acceptable, still in force”: Is this ticket still valid?
Your turn
The museum has ramps and a lift, so it is fully accessible to ___ visitors.
Show the answer
disabled — Ramps and a lift are for visitors who find stairs difficult, so the answer is disabled. Invalid means “not valid” and is used about tickets and passwords, not people.
Write about a time when a document, ticket or password turned out to be invalid. Say what it was and what you had to do.
My train ticket was invalid because I had booked it for the wrong day, so I had to buy a new one at the station.
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