- past participle of disillusion.
- past tense form of disillusion.
disillusioned
Britishadjective
Explanation
People who are disillusioned have lost their illusions. This is usually meant in a negative way, as disillusioned people tend to be a little bitter. When you're disillusioned, you're wiser but not necessarily happier: you've learned from experience that life isn't always how you'd like it to be. Getting divorced could leave you disillusioned about marriage and love. Finding out a teacher cheated could leave you disillusioned about education. We all are disillusioned at some point, and it's usually a bit depressing. Often, ignorance really is bliss.
Vocabulary lists containing disillusioned
Power Prefix: dis-
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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.
Grief weighed heavily on them, and at the same time, the industry’s relentless criticism disillusioned them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
They say they left after growing disillusioned with the company’s oil-and-gas work, and now run a climate advocacy group that pushes to limit the use of AI in growing oil-and-gas production.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
“I was in love with the frisson of transgression,” said Anna, one of the disillusioned former believers profiled in Sam Adler-Bell’s March 2026 investigation “The women leaving the new right.”
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
At 16, Semenyo was deflated, disillusioned and ready to give up on football altogether.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
Then he told me that most cynics were once dreamers who became disillusioned.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
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.
