disabuse
Americanverb (used with object)
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disabuses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disabused,
past participle, past
-
disabusing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
disabusesimple
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disabusessimple
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have disabusedperfect
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has disabusedperfect
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am disabusingprogressive
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are disabusingprogressive
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is disabusingprogressive
-
have been disabusingperfect progressive
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has been disabusingperfect progressive
Past
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disabusedsimple
-
had disabusedperfect
-
was disabusingprogressive
-
were disabusingprogressive
-
had been disabusingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disabuse
From the French word désabuser, dating back to 1605–15. See dis- 1, abuse
Explanation
Disabuse means to free someone of a belief that is not true. Many teachers of health find that when they teach, they spend as much energy disabusing kids of false beliefs as they do giving them the facts. Disabuse is often connected to the word notion or idea. In singing lessons, you must disabuse young singers of the idea that they can sing better by singing louder. In the first year of college, many people are disabused of the notion that their experiences are universal — by meeting so many people who have had different experiences or come from different backgrounds.
Vocabulary lists containing disabuse
Power Prefix: dis-
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Grade 12, List 5
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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:
They seek to disabuse their leaders of the fantasy that tourism will be a magic bullet that will somehow bring sustainable economic development to the area.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Warsh has vowed repeatedly over the last two months to restore price stability, to disabuse investors of the idea the Fed has implicitly accepted higher inflation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Investors are seeking certainty from the experts, and rather than disabuse them of those mistaken hopes, the pros often reinforce them.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
Kirsh wants to quickly disabuse her and the other Lost Boys of that idea, given his experience of being sentient property and, perhaps, his experience of typically being the smartest one in the room.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2025
Blanca tried to disabuse him of his error, explaining that neither she nor her work contained a drop of Indian blood, but the language barrier prevented him from understanding her point of view.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
Papic disabuses one common notion the U.S. is a net exporter of crude, saying it’s a net exporter of refined products, which is a very different thing.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 22, 2026
Blood-soaked and candlelit, Michael Mohan’s “Immaculate” disabuses the notion that any conception is ever without sin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2024
An aspiring standup comedian, he believes his mission is to bring laughter to the world, until life disabuses him of that notion.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 28, 2019
Biography, at its most useful, disabuses us from myth, but “Churchill” has no such ambitions.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 1, 2017
Closer inspections, when its temporary nature is made plain, disabuses this idea entirely.
From The Cathedrals of Southern France by M. F. (Milburg Francisco) Mansfield
His experience disabused him of doomerism, convincing him that AI risks could be contained with better security, which could prevent AI-enabled cyberattacks and misaligned agents from going wild.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
If he had hoped for that to be sufficient to shore up his authority he was to be swiftly disabused.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
They were swiftly disabused of that notion — but not before deeming her “goonbait.”
From Salon ● Mar. 20, 2026
But he was quickly disabused of any hope that his prophesies of financial doom would sway opponents.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025
He’d ridden into their cities mounted on a spectral, after all, and most of them assumed he was from Weep—at least, until Thyon Nero disabused them of that notion.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
"It's definitely not disabusing these women of any thoughts they have about men and male behaviour."
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2025
Hence, "Succession" continues HBO's prestige drama tradition of disabusing fans of all the notions they invested in all season long.
From Salon ● May 29, 2023
Part of Guisados’ mission is educating consumers that there’s more to Mexican food than carne asada, he said, as well as disabusing diners of the notion that tacos should always be cheap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2021
However, I’m getting tripped up on where the line is between not lying to your kids and actively disabusing them of things they’ve made up.
From Slate ● Jan. 3, 2021
Rhonda had led the pack in disabusing Citra of that delusion through eyeball rolls and exasperated exhales each time Citra took an imperfect step.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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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.
