disappear
[dis-uh-peer]
- to cease to be seen; vanish from sight.
- to cease to exist or be known; pass away; end gradually: One by one the symptoms disappeared.
- (of a person) to vanish under suspicious circumstances: The dictator's outspoken opponent disappeared that evening, shortly after midnight.
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- to cause to disappear: The magician then disappeared the card.
- to kidnap or arrest and then imprison or kill (a political opponent) without due process of law.
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- the disappeared, political opponents who are caused to disappear, as by kidnapping: the disappeared of Argentina.
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Origin of disappear
Synonym study
1. 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
depart, wane, retire, escape, go, melt, dissipate, fade, perish, evaporate, expire, sink, flee, retreat, fly, die, recede, leave, withdraw, abandonExamples from the Web for disappeared
Contemporary Examples
But even though he has been disappeared, Castro is not forgotten.
There should be a retrievable record of exactly when the Airbus disappeared from radar.
Today, there are only about 30,000 remaining, as they have disappeared from twenty-six countries.
Only two months later, her youngest brother, Mohammed Muktar, disappeared.
The giant bear flicked his ears and, with unmistakable restraint, swung away and disappeared into the trees.
Historical Examples
One of the stars in the constellation of the Pleiades is said to have disappeared.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
Finally he disappeared, and, as it seems, embraced the profession of a sailor.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
The old cities of Egypt have disappeared from the face of the earth.
Ancient ManHendrik Willem van Loon
Thrones have toppled and their vast empires have disappeared.
Like the tomb of William the Conqueror at Caen, it disappeared long ago.
Yorkshire Painted And DescribedGordon Home
disappear
- (intr) to cease to be visible; vanish
- (intr) to go away or become lost, esp secretly or without explanation
- (intr) to cease to exist, have effect, or be known; become extinct or lostthe pain has disappeared
- (tr) (esp in South and Central America) to arrest secretly and presumably imprison or kill (a member of an opposing political group)
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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
Word Origin and History for disappeared
disappear
v.
early 15c., disaperen, from dis- "do the opposite of" + appear. Earlier was disparish (early 15c.), from French disparaiss-, stem of disparaître. Related: Disappeared; disappearing; disappears. Slang disappearing act is originally of magic shows; in figurative sense of "getting away" first attested 1913.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper