disembark

American  

[dis-em-bahrk] / ˌdɪs ɛmˈbɑrk /

verb (used without object)

1. to go ashore from a ship.

2. to leave an aircraft or other vehicle.

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verb (used with object)

1. to remove or unload (cargo or passengers) from a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle.

disembark British  

/ ˌdɪsɪmˈbɑːk, dɪsˌɛmbɑːˈkeɪʃən /

verb

1. to land or cause to land from a ship, aircraft, etc

   several passengers disembarked

   we will disembark the passengers

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Other Word Forms

• disembarkation
  noun
• disembarkment
  noun

Etymology

Origin of disembark

1575–85; < Middle French desembarquer, equivalent to des- dis- ¹ + embarquer to embark

Explanation

Use the verb disembark to describe leaving a ship, airplane or other type of vehicle, like making sure you haven't left anything in the plane's overhead compartment before you disembark. Embark means "putting passengers in a plane or on a boat." Disembark is its opposite. When you disembark, you leave a ship or a plane, like when you can't wait to disembark at the port in order to go sight-seeing. When you disembark, there is a transition — you walk down a gangplank to go from water to land or down a special corridor to get from the runway to the airport terminal — unlike when you get out of a car. That's why you wouldn't use disembark for getting out of a car.

Example Sentences

The splash of the paddles dashes o'er the canoe. 20xKu and his fellow, Lono, Disembark on solid land; They alight on a shoal.

From Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula by Emerson, Nathaniel Bright

Disembark, dis-em-b�rk′, v.t. to land persons, troops, &c.: to take out of a ship.—v.i. to quit a ship: to land.—ns.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

Related Words

• alight
• dismount