disconnect
Americanverb (used with object)
-
disconnects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disconnected,
past participle, past
-
disconnecting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
disconnects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disconnected,
past participle, past
-
disconnecting
present participle
-
to sever or terminate a connection, as of a telephone; hang up.
State your business and disconnect.
-
to withdraw into one's private world.
When social pressures become too great, she simply disconnects.
noun
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disconnects
plural
-
an act or instance of disconnecting, especially the suspension of telephone or cable TV service for nonpayment of service charges.
-
a lack of communication or agreement.
There is a huge disconnect between management and employees.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disconnectsimple
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disconnectssimple
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have disconnectedperfect
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has disconnectedperfect
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am disconnectingprogressive
-
are disconnectingprogressive
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is disconnectingprogressive
-
have been disconnectingperfect progressive
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has been disconnectingperfect progressive
Past
-
disconnectedsimple
-
had disconnectedperfect
-
was disconnectingprogressive
-
were disconnectingprogressive
-
had been disconnectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disconnect
Explanation
When you disconnect something, you detach or separate it from something else. If you work plowing driveways during the winter, you need to disconnect the plow from your truck in the spring. You can disconnect toy train cars, and you can also disconnect your laptop from its charger. In fact, unplugging electrical appliances is another way to disconnect something. Disconnect also means a lack of understanding or connection. So there might be a disconnect between you and your brother, or between what a politician promises to do and what she actually does. Disconnect combines dis-, "the opposite of" with connect, from the Latin conectere, "join together."
Vocabulary lists containing disconnect
Vocabulary from the Poem “Touchscreen” by Marshall Davis Jones
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Flying Lessons & Other Stories
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Mexican WhiteBoy
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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:
“People don’t believe that. When I am not doing politics, I just want to be home with my cats, my partner and just try to disconnect from the world.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026
More interesting than why the spreads are widening is the disconnect between the stocks’ performance and the credit market’s assessment.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026
Remember: If you test one of these out then want to deactivate it, don’t just disconnect your mail, calendar and other “connectors.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
Back in January 2015, Wynonna gave a teary-eyed account of the disconnect during an appearance on AXS TV’s “The Big Interview With Dan Rather.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
I disconnect my phone for much of the day.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
“This space is on fire despite stock price disconnects YTD for basically all of AI semis,” Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes wrote on Friday.
From Barron's ● Mar. 9, 2026
The GDP report itself contains some troubling disconnects: Americans’ disposable personal income remained flat after inflation, despite their robust spending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
But “a switch goes off in a narcissist’s brain that disconnects them emotionally from you.”
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2025
“There are so many disconnects and a lack of accountability for really protecting the lives of Indigenous and Black people in this state,” Kebec said.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2024
It sends a current through me, and for at least a moment, disconnects me from my thoughts.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
Though remarkably made, as the lone architectural object the model remains disconnected from the rest of the exhibition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
They are also profoundly disconnected from one another and from the world around them.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
Their population would be scattered in disconnected pockets, which reduces chances of breeding between groups and increases their risks of long-term decline or local extinction, which is already a threat, the study says.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Over the past few months, the performance of the premier U.S. equity index has grown increasingly disconnected from that of the average U.S.-traded stock.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
The stranger rabbits seemed slightly disconnected by his little speech and he felt that for some reason or other he had not struck the right note in complimenting them on their numbers.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
The mind learns that disconnecting can allow a person to get space from the sensations, emotions, or experiences that are painful or overwhelming.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
"I was bored sometimes, and that's okay," West recalled one recent evening at a city community garden where detox participants met to share their struggles and joys of disconnecting.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
Nor does it reckon with data on straight men’s growing acceptance of homosexuality or the role of technology in connecting and disconnecting people, or evidence of declining associational activities in general.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
"It's about taking yourself away from reality and disconnecting from advertising, marketing, social media, all those other things that we're surrounded with in life," she said.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
While I’m old enough to know Carl’s disappearance had nothing to do with my mom leaving, there’s no disconnecting the two in my mind.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
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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.
