disassociate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
disassociates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disassociated,
past participle, past
-
disassociating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
disassociatesimple
-
disassociatessimple
-
have disassociatedperfect
-
has disassociatedperfect
-
am disassociatingprogressive
-
are disassociatingprogressive
-
is disassociatingprogressive
-
have been disassociatingperfect progressive
-
has been disassociatingperfect progressive
Past
-
disassociatedsimple
-
had disassociatedperfect
-
was disassociatingprogressive
-
were disassociatingprogressive
-
had been disassociatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disassociate
Explanation
It’s often said that we are the company we keep, so it makes sense to disassociate — or distance ourselves — from people whose behaviors and beliefs we do not wish to be connected to. To disassociate means to separate yourself from a person, group, or idea. For example, if you end a friendship with your long-time buddies because you value honesty and they do not, you are disassociating from them. This term often indicates an intentional effort to distance oneself from certain people, organizations, beliefs, or behaviors that are no longer acceptable to you so that you are no longer associated with them.
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:
When people change theirs, it can be a sign that they want to disconnect and disassociate from it, he adds.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
In trying to disassociate herself from the scandal, Melania’s lack of acknowledgment of her husband’s ties to Epstein stands out as a confusing, but increasingly familiar, bit of cognitive dissonance.
From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2026
And fair enough if someone wanted to look at the work, but I could not disassociate him naming from his work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
"I would do anything not to go to the hospital, anything, I would just completely disassociate or avoid it altogether," she says.
From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2025
The boys from the neighboring room flinched and took a quick step backward, trying to disassociate themselves.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
"The production disassociates you with much of the feeling and heft of live performance."
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
Notably, reformist President Mohammad Khatami’s foreign minister in 1998 said that the “government disassociates itself from any reward which has been offered in this regard and does not support it.”
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 13, 2022
If there’s a central theme to the collection, it’s that illness disassociates us from ourselves, even if we survive it.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 13, 2021
He added, “On a general level, Cryos disassociates itself from any form of serial sperm donation due to the importance of not exceeding national pregnancy quotas” in each country to which they send sperm.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2021
She had all the dewy, large-eyed softness of look that one reluctantly disassociates from innocence, and a degree of cold, grubby calculation which she mistook, flaunted about in fact, for chastity.
From A Woman of Genius by Mary Hunter Austin
"It has truly disassociated us from the impact of our words."
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2025
Having one long conversation with a good friend almost certainly grounds you deeper into your humanity than a mile-a-minute drivebys of disassociated, ping-ponging emotions from strangers.
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2025
Critics have accused the family of using its philanthropy to whitewash its business practices, and museums such as the Louvre in Paris and the National Portrait Gallery in London have disassociated themselves from the family.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 22, 2024
She explored the Freudian idea of the double, she said, as the physical manifestation of a disassociated or split self.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2023
And then, as if Mr. Muhammad’s voice came from afar, I heard his words: “I’ll have to silence you for the next ninety days—so that the Muslims everywhere can be disassociated from the blunder.”
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
Then a disassociating Navarro tells Danvers she can see Holden.
From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2024
She was regularly disassociating, she said, looking down at her hands and wondering whose they were.
From New York Times ● Feb. 20, 2023
They can wield their power by disassociating with objectionable partners.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2022
While the resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly, Iran - a member of the organisation - said it was disassociating itself from the text.
From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2022
He sat a little to one side, disassociating himself from what was going forward, watching the others calmly, a little contemptuously, a cigarette in his fingers.
From The Octopus : A story of California by Frank Norris
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
