disbar
Americanverb (used with object)
-
disbars,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disbarred,
past participle, past
-
disbarring
present participle
verb
Usage
Disbar is sometimes wrongly used where debar is meant: he was debarred (not disbarred ) from attending meetings
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disbarsimple
-
disbarssimple
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have disbarredperfect
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has disbarredperfect
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am disbarringprogressive
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are disbarringprogressive
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is disbarringprogressive
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have been disbarringperfect progressive
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has been disbarringperfect progressive
Past
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disbarredsimple
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had disbarredperfect
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was disbarringprogressive
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were disbarringprogressive
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had been disbarringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disbar
Explanation
To disbar is to officially take away a lawyer’s license to practice law. If a practicing lawyer gets caught doing something illegal or crazy, it’s time to disbar. “The bar” is the exam that lawyers-to-be must pass after law school so they can practice law. The word bar comes from the wooden bar that surrounds the judge, where the barrister (lawyer) states a case. If you're disbarred, you can no longer practice. A lawyer found guilty of a crime or any other unethical behavior could be disbarred. Getting disbarred is a serious matter — you can tell because it happens to lawyers on TV shows all the time.
Vocabulary lists containing disbar
Just Mercy
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One of Us Is Lying
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This Week In Words: Current Events Vocab for January 9–15, 2021
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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.
See Examples For:
While no further proceedings occurred in New York to permanently disbar Giuliani, the D.C.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2024
Maryland’s highest court unanimously voted to disbar Cassilly in 2021.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 5, 2023
“The plan was to disbar me so I wouldn’t be relevant, and that by and large happened,” he says.
From The Verge ● Mar. 10, 2022
Avenatti’s law license is suspended while the state seeks to disbar him, but he nonetheless has been representing himself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2021
In the course of his opinion for the Court, Justice Field discussed generally the power to admit and disbar attorneys.
From The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952 by Edward Samuel Corwin
He worked as a lawyer in Texas before he was disbarred following his conviction in 2014.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Capitol also are among those “indicted, prosecuted, disbarred and/or jailed,” Kimball wrote.
From MarketWatch ● May 18, 2026
He has since been disbarred in New York and Washington.
From Barron's ● May 3, 2026
One plaintiff, a former Arkansas attorney, was serving a 15-year prison sentence for federal tax evasion; a second, an Illinois lawyer, had been disbarred for sending threatening emails.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2025
They’d have him disbarred; Bud Gleason would no doubt see that Hirsshorn foreclosed on his house.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
These associations are used to disbarring people who, say, defrauded their clients or were utterly incompetent in court over and over again, et cetera.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2025
The panel could recommend disbarring him, suspending his D.C. law license or formally censuring him.
From Reuters ● Dec. 15, 2022
And the same shortcomings are disbarring the country from attracting large-scale investments in renewables.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2015
Air Force’s suspending and disbarring official is monitoring Booz Allen’s handling of the Snowden” case, Dorrian said.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 12, 2013
Besides, there had been talk of disbarring him from the practice of his profession, and I, as a lawyer, had been urged to instigate that proceeding.
From The Boss of Little Arcady by Harry Leon Wilson
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.
