disassociate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disassociatesimple
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disassociatessimple
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have disassociatedperfect
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has disassociatedperfect
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am disassociatingprogressive
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are disassociatingprogressive
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is disassociatingprogressive
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have been disassociatingperfect progressive
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has been disassociatingperfect progressive
Past
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disassociatedsimple
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had disassociatedperfect
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was disassociatingprogressive
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were disassociatingprogressive
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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
"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
Honestly, I was just trying to be in the moment and not disassociate, which I’ve done in the past in scenes like that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2024
Finally Scrimgeour said, with no pretense at warmth, “I see. You prefer — like your hero, Dumbledore — to disassociate yourself from the Ministry?”
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
"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 Austin, Mary Hunter
She said: "He was much calmer. He was zoned out. I would say he disassociated."
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026
Museums such as the Louvre, the Tate museums, and the National Portrait Gallery in London have also disassociated themselves from the Sackler family.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 6, 2024
We cannot afford to be disassociated from the political process this fall.
From Salon ● May 2, 2024
“We disassociated politics from those everyday issues, because a lot of politics has become about rhetoric and ideology instead of the core issues,” Plummer said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2024
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
“I would say that just because you're disassociating from politics doesn't mean it is disassociating from you. And at the end of the day, politics do matter.”
From Salon ● Dec. 29, 2024
What quickly becomes apparent is that they are lying to themselves and each other — coping, disassociating, self-soothing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 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
Finally, he began to prepare the moderate Whigs for peace by presenting the economic considerations and disassociating Marlborough from the Queen's and the ministry's "business of peace."
From A Short Narrative of the Life and Actions of His Grace John, D. of Marlborogh by Defoe, Daniel
Definitions 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.
