deprogram
Americanverb (used with object)
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to free (a convert) from the influence of a religious cult, political indoctrination, etc., by intensive persuasion or reeducation.
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to retrain, as for the purpose of eliminating or replacing a learned or acquired behavior pattern or habit that is undesirable or unsuitable.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of deprogram
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Toss it on, let the bops bop, and maybe help deprogram your local Disney adult.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2025
“And so my entire career has been about how to deprogram myself, so that I can capture us the way we should be.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2023
“But the country has changed, the population is young, and the Taliban will not suddenly be able to deprogram people and tell them the world is flat when they know that it is not.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 30, 2021
It is hard work to deprogram ourselves of institutionalized language, even for the best of those reporting on abuses in the criminal legal system, even for me at times.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 18, 2020
I deprogram the air filters and open the windows.
From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon
Seeing my devastation, he concocted a weak compliment--"nice growth formation of the hair"--but I was already woefully deprogramed.
From Time Magazine Archive
Back in July, Stout posted a TikTok where she explains how she essentially deprogrammed herself from far-right ideology, and it went viral—it has over 3 million views.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2025
I believe in standing up against such evil I have been confronting danger since I was deprogrammed from the Moonies 48 years ago.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2024
“We are getting deprogrammed right now,” he said with a rueful chuckle.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2022
This is essential listening for anyone who’s ever been in the grips of the diet industrial complex, and wants to get deprogrammed.
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2022
Scott never found out that his mother deprogrammed the VCR, cleared its memory and 'Twelved' the clock an hour before he arrived to show her how to use it.
From Terminal Compromise: computer terrorism: when privacy and freedom are the victims: a novel by Winn Schwartau
"Counter-terrorism police and Prevent are excellent at deprogramming children who have been caught into ideological movements," she told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Braxton: Meredith, my hope is one day deprogramming you away from those horrid “Housewives.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2023
While the latter is in serious need of a deprogramming.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2022
It was the tiniest of drops in the bucket, although the deprogramming industry may re-emerge as Covid wanes.
From Salon ● Nov. 16, 2021
So, for me, going to college was deprogramming who other people thought I was.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2021
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
