disappeared

American  

[dis-uh-peerd] / ˌdɪs əˈpɪərd /

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.

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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.

Etymology

Origin of disappeared

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

Lyhanna disappeared after school a week ago in the Gers area of south-west France.

From BBC • Jun. 5, 2026

With cloud revenues surging amid acute shortages of semiconductors, memory, and compute, the skepticism of late 2025 has suddenly disappeared.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

County district attorney in 2024 but disappeared in a crowded primary field.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 3, 2026

The legacy of the Vanderbilts hangs heavy over advisers for the wealthy, who often note that their Gilded Age fortune all but disappeared over successive generations.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 1, 2026

With the pouch in his jaws, Wolf disappeared into the fog.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Related Words

• absent
• adrift
• disoriented
• hidden
• invisible
• misplaced
• vanished