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Synonyms

demobilize

American  
[dee-moh-buh-lahyz] / diˈmoʊ bəˌlaɪz /
especially British, demobilise

verb (used with object)

  • demobilizes,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • demobilized,
    past participle,  past
  • demobilizing
    present participle
  1. to disband (troops, an army, etc.).

  2. to discharge (a person) from military service.


demobilize British  
/ diːˈməʊbɪˌlaɪz /

verb

  1. to disband, as troops, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Conjugated Forms

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Etymology

Origin of demobilize

First recorded in 1865–70; de- + mobilize

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:

The oilfield-services company, formerly known as Schlumberger, had to demobilize operations in a number of countries in response to customer actions to safeguard personnel and facilities, Le Peuch said Friday.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 24, 2026

While the federal government may demobilize, the onus now has been pushed to the property owners to either finish the job.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 22, 2025

He’s also negotiating with the most powerful of Colombia’s armed groups – from leftist guerrillas to smaller trafficking mafias – in an effort to get them to demobilize simultaneously.

From Seattle Times Sep. 18, 2023

Petro has pushed for what he calls a “total peace” that would demobilize all of the country’s remaining rebel groups as well as its drug trafficking gangs.

From Washington Times Jun. 9, 2023

The summons came from the powers to demobilize, or the Greek coast would be blockaded.

From The Autobiography of a Journalist, Volume II by William James Stillman

It demobilizes, distracts, and depresses those who want to do better.

From Salon Jan. 19, 2025

Such sluggishness would scarcely reduce unemployment, which stands at 7.3% and could climb even higher as the Pentagon demobilizes the armed forces and slashes military contracts.

From Time Magazine Archive

Baker won plaudits for the Central American plan that demobilizes the contras.

From Time Magazine Archive

The U.S. mobilized to fight World War II, then rapidly demobilized after it ended.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 28, 2026

Most had already been demobilized, with the US military saying 100 Guard troops remained deployed at the time.

From Barron's Dec. 31, 2025

Prisoners serving in the army would be integrated into special units for the duration of martial law, meaning that they would not be demobilized until the end of the war.

From New York Times May 8, 2024

In 2003, he joined a peace process under which paramilitary leaders demobilized in exchange for reduced sentences.

From Seattle Times Feb. 27, 2024

“E. O. Lawrence personally never quite demobilized after the end of World War II,” the Rad Lab physicist Wolfgang “Pief” Panofsky would observe many years later.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Overprotected by parents in the physical world and underprotected in the virtual one, Generation Z has become ill-equipped to face and overcome crises while suffering from the demobilizing effects of depression and anxiety.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 7, 2026

The 3.4% decline in 2020 was still the biggest annual decline for GDP since an 11.6% drop in 1946 when the country was demobilizing after World War II.

From Seattle Times Jul. 29, 2021

The bright side of all this is that far from demobilizing Muslims, it has coincided with a surge in Muslim civic engagement.

From Salon Jun. 28, 2018

Besides demobilizing the armed forces and preparing for the homecoming of servicemen and women, he also had to guide the nation through the process of returning to a peacetime economy.

From Textbooks Dec. 30, 2014

Besides the business of demobilizing the national army, the remaining regular officers and non-coms went into the school of fire, and practised observation of shots over a beautiful relief map of the "Chemin-des-Dames."

From Steel The Diary of a Furnace Worker by Charles Rumford Walker

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