disillusion
Americanverb (used with object)
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disillusionsimple
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disillusionssimple
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have disillusionedperfect
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has disillusionedperfect
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am disillusioningprogressive
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are disillusioningprogressive
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is disillusioningprogressive
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have been disillusioningperfect progressive
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has been disillusioningperfect progressive
Past
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disillusionedsimple
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had disillusionedperfect
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was disillusioningprogressive
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were disillusioningprogressive
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had been disillusioningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disillusion
Explanation
To disillusion is to make someone realize their belief isn't true. If your cousin believes that the Tooth Fairy will come in the night, take her tooth and sprinkle her with fairy dust. It would be too cruel to disillusion her. When you disillusion someone, you take away a false belief, or an illusion. Your parents' divorce might disillusion your romantic ideas of marriage, and a political candidate you supported enthusiastically could disillusion if she doesn't follow through on her promises. The disappointment you feel as a result of being disillusioned is also called disillusion, like the disillusion that results when your older sister tells you the truth about the Easter Bunny.
Vocabulary lists containing disillusion
Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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Toni Morrison (1931–2019) Tribute List
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Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 5
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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:
But notes of disillusion sound throughout this ostensible success story.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Accepting the possibility of disillusion as part of existence allows Amélie to endure sorrow and bask in moments of elation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025
In stark contrast with the album’s bombastic, top-10 title track, the early version of “Born in the USA” featured on “Nebraska ’82” oozes with the pain, heartbreak and disillusion inherent in the song’s lyrics.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2025
Put them all together and there is a disillusion and a widespread sense among farmers of not being listened to.
From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2024
His face was agog with befuddlement and disillusion.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Coaches across the City said that the lack of care is another sign of a lack of support that disillusions prospective parents, which leads to enrollment somewhere else.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2023
One key strength of this exhibition, curated by Elizabeth Cleland and Adam Eaker, is that it disillusions Tudor hagiography without making them seem uniquely brutal or awful.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2022
“What if that disillusions a lot of really bright, passionate, smart people from the industry?”
From New York Times ● Aug. 23, 2021
The rise of the “Beast-Elect” so disillusions her that she quits her job and breaks for the California badlands, where her friend’s teen-age daughter, Arabella, has gone missing.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 13, 2018
It is possible that I was mistaken and I do not willfully invite any disillusions at this point in my life.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
“I was in love with the frisson of transgression,” said Anna, one of the disillusioned former believers profiled in Sam Adler-Bell’s March 2026 investigation “The women leaving the new right.”
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
Also through him, we get to watch as Susan becomes disillusioned with the thing that she idolized the most: the music industry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
At 16, Semenyo was deflated, disillusioned and ready to give up on football altogether.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
Many disillusioned Cubans shrugged off the announcements as either too little too late or an outright "lie."
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Over the years, the brother and sister grew deeply disillusioned with National Socialism.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
She added it was "disillusioning and disappointing that South Wales Police and the CPS demonstrated a lack of understanding" to what she said were the "unique stresses" of transitioning.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2025
The exhibition is as disillusioning about any reflexive association of the Renaissance with pervasive humanism as it is about the Tudors themselves.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2022
And perhaps before any of that, he’ll have to win over the remaining players from a very disillusioning Husky season.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 29, 2021
But during his presidency, “the new world of Emmanuel Macron has come to look a lot like the old world,” disillusioning voters, Mr. Perrineau said.
From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2021
In light of the bold and defiant line we had taken all along, an appeal would seem anticli- mactic and even disillusioning.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
