disband
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disband
1585–95; < Middle French desbander, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + -bander, derivative of bande troop, band 1
Explanation
You know how rock bands are always forming and then breaking up? When they break up, they disband. The word disband refers to any group or unit of folks who decide to go their separate ways. Long before there were rock bands, groups of friends or warriors would band together for protection or companionship. They would become a band of sorts. The prefix dis comes from the Latin word for "apart." So if people come together to form a band — like Robin Hood's Merry Men — then if they disband, they decide to separate and break apart. Groups don't always disband because they want to. Sometimes police officers or government officials disband groups they believe are a nuisance or a threat.
Vocabulary lists containing disband
This Week in Words: August 13-18, 2017
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Nelson Mandela "I am Prepared to Die" (1964)
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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.
Asked about the Wednesday letter by the congressional delegation, Yakama Nation Chairman Delano Saluskin said, “They need to cancel that little board. Disband that whole thing.”
From Seattle Times • Mar. 11, 2021
Disband it and/or call it something else instead.
From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2018
Karzai Orders Guard Firms to Disband KABUL, Afghanistan — President issued a decree on Tuesday ordering the disbanding of private security forces in by the end of the year.
From New York Times • Aug. 17, 2010
An old lady rushed up to a policeman shrieking: "Disband this group of ruffians."
From Time Magazine Archive
"Disband, nothing!" broke in Mrs. Wright, whose hands were busily employed knitting a sweater for one of her girls while her eyes were glancing from person to person.
From Mary Louise and Josie O'Gorman by Sampson, Emma Speed
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.
