disband
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disband
1585–95; < Middle French desbander, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + -bander, derivative of bande troop, band 1
Explanation
You know how rock bands are always forming and then breaking up? When they break up, they disband. The word disband refers to any group or unit of folks who decide to go their separate ways. Long before there were rock bands, groups of friends or warriors would band together for protection or companionship. They would become a band of sorts. The prefix dis comes from the Latin word for "apart." So if people come together to form a band — like Robin Hood's Merry Men — then if they disband, they decide to separate and break apart. Groups don't always disband because they want to. Sometimes police officers or government officials disband groups they believe are a nuisance or a threat.
Vocabulary lists containing disband
This Week in Words: August 13-18, 2017
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Nelson Mandela "I am Prepared to Die" (1964)
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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.
Rather than disband the Vermont Rainbow Coalition after the 1984 primary, they kept the group going, endorsing candidates in campaigns for the legislature and statewide office in each of the next three election cycles.
From Salon • Feb. 23, 2026
In 1949, Down Beat magazine, long a champion, even urged him to disband.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026
It was the inner circle, a cabal I’d tried to disband for more than a decade.
From Slate • Jan. 13, 2026
In March this year, a Tokyo court ordered the church to disband - a ruling that the church said it would "fight to the end".
From BBC • Dec. 4, 2025
“You’d be breaking the Bureau’s biggest oath. They could disband the entire Bureau for this. Amari, they’d throw you into Blackstone.”
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
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.
