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

Meanwhile, Ryui is tasked with discovering what became of Jack’s previous roommate, who disappeared after running up a significant debt.

From The Wall Street Journal

Andrew Axelrod realized that the $40 million he had backing the Brooklyn Mirage was going south when the club’s founder disappeared without a trace.

From The Wall Street Journal

But when Sarah reached forward to help her baby daughter up, the circle was broken, and Leila disappeared.

From Literature

In only two months, nearly half of Hektoria Glacier broke apart and disappeared.

From Science Daily

Disclaimers warning that AI responses “are not professionally vetted or a substitute for medical advice” have all but disappeared from AI platforms, according to a survey by researchers at Stanford and UC Berkeley.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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