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:
Steven Hassan is one of the world's leading experts on cults and other dangerous organizations, as well as how to deprogram people who have succumbed to "mind control."
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2023
“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
“We have to kind of deprogram people and help them understand that’s not really the way it works.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 28, 2022
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
“He’s been deprogrammed and he can no longer hide from all that baggage,” says Spellman.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2021
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 Schwartau, Winn
I've resisted the use of the term "deprogramming" for decades because the news media fixated on it.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2023
While the latter is in serious need of a deprogramming.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2022
This is the beginning of intense deprogramming, and I just hope to God the people that help her along the way are actually there for the right reasons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2021
It was the tiniest of drops in the bucket, although the deprogramming industry may re-emerge as Covid wanes.
From Salon ● Nov. 16, 2021
Picariello’s experience was quite different from the argumentative and involuntary confrontation associated with traditional deprogramming, and this shift in the approach to counseling cult victims has defined Hassan’s career.
From Slate ● Jun. 1, 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.
