disappear
Americanverb (used without object)
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disappears,
present (3rd person singular)
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disappeared,
past participle, past
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disappearing
present participle
-
to cease to be seen; vanish from sight.
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to cease to exist or be known; pass away; end gradually.
One by one the symptoms disappeared.
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(of a person) to vanish under suspicious circumstances.
The dictator's outspoken opponent disappeared that evening, shortly after midnight.
verb (used with object)
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disappears,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disappeared,
past participle, past
-
disappearing
present participle
-
to cause to disappear.
The magician then disappeared the card.
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to kidnap or arrest and then imprison or kill (a political opponent) without due process of law.
verb
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(intr) to cease to be visible; vanish
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(intr) to go away or become lost, esp secretly or without explanation
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(intr) to cease to exist, have effect, or be known; become extinct or lost
the pain has disappeared
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(tr) (esp in South and Central America) to arrest secretly and presumably imprison or kill (a member of an opposing political group)
Synonym Usage
Disappear, fade, vanish suggest that something passes from sight. Disappear is used of whatever suddenly or gradually goes out of sight: We watched him turn down a side street and then disappear. Fade suggests a (complete or partial) disappearance that proceeds gradually and often by means of a blending into something else: Colors in the sky at sunrise quickly fade. Vanish suggests complete, generally rapid, and often mysterious disappearance: A mirage can vanish as suddenly as it appears.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disappearsimple
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disappearssimple
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have disappearedperfect
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has disappearedperfect
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am disappearingprogressive
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are disappearingprogressive
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is disappearingprogressive
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have been disappearingperfect progressive
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has been disappearingperfect progressive
Past
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disappearedsimple
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had disappearedperfect
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was disappearingprogressive
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were disappearingprogressive
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had been disappearingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disappear
Explanation
When something disappears, it's gone. To disappear is to vanish, evaporate, or just fade away. The word disappear is made up of dis, meaning "do the opposite of" and appear. So to disappear is to do the opposite of appear. Magicians are experts at making things disappear: one minute the rabbit is here, and the next, it's gone! When you lose something, like one of a pair of socks, you could say it disappeared. Snow disappears as it melts; boiling water disappears as it evaporates. Anything that goes away without leaving a trace has disappeared.
Vocabulary lists containing disappear
"Hitching a Ride"
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 3
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Let It Be
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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:
Glitches in the system kept fans waiting for hours in virtual queues only to have tickets disappear from their carts or the site crash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Such structures are generally so faint that they disappear against the light of their host galaxies.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026
“This is real nature and I choose to be extremely thankful that Jackie did not disappear to die a suffering death and joyful that Shadow is not alone.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Even with innovation like that, petrol-powered machines are unlikely to disappear anytime soon, particularly for professional landscapers.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Natalie thought in a panic, watching her house disappear in the rain.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
Even relatively modest changes in mountain elevation can determine whether snow disappears during summer or remains long enough to accumulate from one year to the next.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 25, 2026
It’s called the “Invisiball”—baseball jargon for a pitch that batters inexplicably can’t hit, as if it simply disappears on its way to the plate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
The islands of Majorca and Menorca will be the last places on land to view the eclipse before the Sun sets and the shadow disappears.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
Then, she disappears into the spectacle of the film.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
“And there’s a pattern to it. Her light disappears at regular intervals. The whitecaps could not possibly be causing that.”
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
Checking the university’s website, I saw that my list of 50 current students disappeared overnight.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
That prediction agrees with other geological evidence showing that roughly five to ten kilometers of rock disappeared from parts of the region long before the modern Grand Canyon formed.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
The majority of people on it disappeared in the moutains, or in rivers and other bodies of water, police said.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Pensinger, county officials said, had disappeared in July 1998.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
The truck disappeared in a cloud of exhaust.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Over time, Western components have been disappearing from the Shahed, Ukrainian officials and analysts say, even as the drones gain more sophisticated navigation and attack capabilities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Sea ice has been disappearing from East Greenland, allowing giant whales to take advantage and move in to previously inaccessible areas.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
So why is it disappearing from the shelves?
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
The observation marks the first time humanity has recorded Earth disappearing behind another object from the surface of a different planet.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
Fig performed his interpretation of a disappearing act—crouching perfectly still.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
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.
