disappeared

[dis-uh-peerd]

adjective

1. having vanished from sight or existence.

   Right this minute, the only thing I want to do is to find a way to recover my disappeared phone photos.

   The museum displays tools and artifacts from an almost disappeared culture, known only from one archaeological site.

2. (of a person) having vanished under suspicious or unknown circumstances.

   Family members of the disappeared persons were denied the right to any effective remedy, including the right to know the fate of their loved ones.

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. none the disappeared people, especially political opponents, who have vanished under suspicious or unknown circumstances, or without due process of law.

   The determination of the parents, grandparents, and—most recently—children of the disappeared is finally putting dictators, torturers, and their accomplices behind bars.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of disappear.

Word History and Origins

Origin of disappeared¹

First recorded in 1400–50 as a verb: disappear ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ), and in 1640–50 as an adjective: disappear ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Fang said she had joined several groups on the Chinese messaging app WeChat filled with dozens of people searching for relatives who disappeared near the Myanmar border.

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The aircraft disappeared before authorities could intercept them, leaving Danish authorities without evidence of who sent them.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Once his truck disappeared, I walked home, rattled, not sure how to explain what had happened to my kids.

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Iqra, a 13-year-old child worker, died in February from blows by her wealthy employers in Rawalpindi, Islamabad's twin city, because chocolate had disappeared from their kitchen.

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Their bowlers exercising plans grounded in futility as the ball disappeared to the boundary.

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Related Words

• absent 
• adrift 
• disoriented 
• hidden 
• invisible 
• misplaced www.thesaurus.com
• vanished www.thesaurus.com