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:
Roman Abramovich's billions had been made to disappear.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Though many stolen vehicles disappear, some are recovered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026
Bill decides to disappear into irony and jokes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"That hostility did not simply disappear afterwards," Khoo Ying Hooi, an associate professor at Universiti Malaya, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
If I sat a little closer to the ground, I could go forward, jump off to either side, or, if I had time to get them open, disappear behind the big doors.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Returning to the theme at that year's end-of-season ATP Finals, Medvedev said any bad blood soon disappears after leaving the court.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Once oil stops going up, at whatever price level, its direct impact on inflation disappears.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
And it’s because, when you take a photograph or a scan, that blue pencil disappears.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
At the same time, Emperor, Adélie and chinstrap penguins are expected to decline as sea ice disappears and populations of krill that grow beneath the ice are affected.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
She disappears from her room for a long time.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
Even though many AI companies bill customers by consumption, rather than on a monthly basis, annual recurring revenue—a common SaaS-era metric for judging a startup’s success—hasn’t disappeared.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The UK was once home to large tuna fisheries, but overfishing of both the tuna and the smaller fish it preys on meant that by the 1960s it had largely disappeared.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The next evening, Cohn made the long slog back out to 2001 Odyssey, but the young man had disappeared.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026
Pearce Quigley, who played Danebury Metal Detecting Club member Russell in “Detectorists” stars as Michael Sleep, whose life has been on pause since his girlfriend, Clea, disappeared on Christmas Eve seven years earlier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
He whined a couple of times, moved back and forth as if he might be going to drag the team over the edge, then disappeared from view.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
Leavitt announced her resignation only a few days after The Washington Post and The New York Times reported on Trump’s disappearing act.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026
But disappearing messages and images have been singled out previously as posing particular risks for child or teen users of some apps.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Now that it’s disappearing, we kind of miss it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Ants are disappearing from the table in Brazil, one Danish chef is opting for cocoa-free chocolate and Japan is serving up warm-water fish, culinary stars disclosed at the Apapaxoa gastronomic festival on Mexico's Caribbean coast.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
The road, indicated by a distinct set of tire tracks, wound through the trees before disappearing to the right.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
