disembark
Americanverb (used without object)
-
disembarks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disembarked,
past participle, past
-
disembarking
present participle
-
to go ashore from a ship.
-
to leave an aircraft or other vehicle.
verb (used with object)
-
disembarks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disembarked,
past participle, past
-
disembarking
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
disembarksimple
-
disembarkssimple
-
have disembarkedperfect
-
has disembarkedperfect
-
am disembarkingprogressive
-
are disembarkingprogressive
-
is disembarkingprogressive
-
have been disembarkingperfect progressive
-
has been disembarkingperfect progressive
Past
-
disembarkedsimple
-
had disembarkedperfect
-
was disembarkingprogressive
-
were disembarkingprogressive
-
had been disembarkingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing disembark
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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:
"The aircraft could not takeoff in this unsafe condition, so the crew elected to return to the terminal and have the two passengers disembark," it added.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Metrolink spokeswoman Sabrina Davis said the 1858 train experienced mechanical issues around 4:30 p.m. and came to a stop between the Anaheim Canyon and Corona stations, where it was not safe to disembark.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
Thirty people, including the deceased passenger, disembark in St. Helena.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
A cruise ship with a fatal hantavirus outbreak is set to head toward Spain’s Canary Islands, where health officials plan to inspect the vessel and the passengers before allowing anyone to disembark.
From MarketWatch ● May 5, 2026
That meant I would have to disembark in Kiel without incident.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
Once Chaplin’s character disembarks, though, a bit of pluck and a stranger’s generosity pull him out of a possible pit, and a new American life is born.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
The train then pulls into a station, and the man disembarks and flees down the platform.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2025
The one-hour Seattle-Bremerton Washington State Ferry disembarks passengers and autos in downtown Bremerton.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 14, 2024
Now, there is a Secret Service agent positioned at the bottom of the stairs when he disembarks.
From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2024
The moment the last person disembarks, the equipment retracts.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
On Thursday, Congolese health authorities quarantined a boat carrying 255 people near the capital, Kinshasa, after a passenger who had disembarked at an earlier stop died from Ebola-like symptoms in late July.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Some 400 years ago, a six-legged invader disembarked on the coast of Spanish Florida and began making its way across North America.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
The fire broke out on Sunday as passengers were eating breakfast, survivor Muhammad Abdul Karim told reporters in Surabaya after he disembarked from a rescue vessel.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries are reported initially to have been aboard the vessel, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on 24 April.
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
We disembarked in Zakopane and were met by Karl, my grandmother’s caretaker, driver, and sometime model.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
Soon after disembarking at Hong Kong's train station, Chinese private investor Feng was opening a stock trading account at a nearby brokerage, hoping to evade tighter restrictions on capital leaving the country.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Cape Verde was the vessel's intended final destination, but authorities there prevented passengers from disembarking.
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
They include an elderly Dutch man, who died before he could be tested, and his wife, who died after disembarking.
From BBC ● May 12, 2026
Passengers in blue medical suits began disembarking the vessel on Sunday to reach the small industrial port of Granadilla on Tenerife, AFP journalists saw.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
Some days there were as many as a hundred, when the soldiers were disembarking.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
