disillusionment
Americannoun
-
disillusionments
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of disillusionment
Explanation
Feeling disillusionment means you're bummed out because you no longer believe in something — usually because you find out it isn't as amazing as you thought. The definition of disillusionment doesn't sound so bad: being freed from false beliefs or illusions. Well, sorry to disillusion you, but it's not so great. Disillusionment is when the hard truth of reality makes you lose faith in your dreams and ideals. Like you might have thought your internship at the movie studio would be super glamorous, but you quickly suffered some disillusionment when you realized it involved 14-hour days and lots of coffee runs.
Vocabulary lists containing disillusionment
Siddhartha
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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"Marionettes, Inc." by Ray Bradbury
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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:
Stupnikov’s decision to turn against his own comrades came after years of deepening disillusionment with the Russian military.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
He sees contradictions – uncertain youth in a powerful, assertive country; disillusionment despite huge advancement – and his job, he says, is to unpack what is driving it.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Can those music scenes credibly speak to that disillusionment today?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
The first half of Communion, on Vance’s journey from evangelical Christianity to atheism to Catholicism, takes the reader through his disillusionment with the conservative evangelical churches of his youth.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026
By the fall of 2007, Bobby’s disillusionment with Iceland was fixed.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
The Black mustache didn’t end with the disillusionments of the post-civil-rights era.
From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2020
My life was littered with awkwardnesses, estrangements, mutual disillusionments, abandoned projects.
From New York Times ● Aug. 17, 2016
The experience provides an allegory for Ned’s life: every pool “reflects” something about his personal and professional disillusionments and dissatisfactions.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2015
Noises of the generation's falling hair and its disillusionments -- is that all there is? -- are muzzing in the American background.
From Time Magazine Archive
It too now seems convincing to many archaeologists, but caution is warranted in view of all the previous disillusionments.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
