disconnect
Americanverb (used with object)
-
disconnects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disconnected,
past participle, past
-
disconnecting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
disconnects,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disconnected,
past participle, past
-
disconnecting
present participle
-
to sever or terminate a connection, as of a telephone; hang up.
State your business and disconnect.
-
to withdraw into one's private world.
When social pressures become too great, she simply disconnects.
noun
-
disconnects
plural
-
an act or instance of disconnecting, especially the suspension of telephone or cable TV service for nonpayment of service charges.
-
a lack of communication or agreement.
There is a huge disconnect between management and employees.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
disconnectsimple
-
disconnectssimple
-
have disconnectedperfect
-
has disconnectedperfect
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am disconnectingprogressive
-
are disconnectingprogressive
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is disconnectingprogressive
-
have been disconnectingperfect progressive
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has been disconnectingperfect progressive
Past
-
disconnectedsimple
-
had disconnectedperfect
-
was disconnectingprogressive
-
were disconnectingprogressive
-
had been disconnectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disconnect
Explanation
When you disconnect something, you detach or separate it from something else. If you work plowing driveways during the winter, you need to disconnect the plow from your truck in the spring. You can disconnect toy train cars, and you can also disconnect your laptop from its charger. In fact, unplugging electrical appliances is another way to disconnect something. Disconnect also means a lack of understanding or connection. So there might be a disconnect between you and your brother, or between what a politician promises to do and what she actually does. Disconnect combines dis-, "the opposite of" with connect, from the Latin conectere, "join together."
Vocabulary lists containing disconnect
Vocabulary from the Poem “Touchscreen” by Marshall Davis Jones
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Flying Lessons & Other Stories
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Mexican WhiteBoy
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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:
It’s a perfect parody of the Period-Piece Pixie, poking fun at the disconnect between her words—”Look at that!
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
The only way through this marital disconnect and fear of and longing for retirement is through the figures.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
The confusion resulted in part from an apparent disconnect between prison staff, according to the AP news agency, which first obtained audio of the emergency calls.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Incident command suffered from “credibility issues ... a lack of trust and an overall institutional disconnect between command staff and line personnel,” the investigation found.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
It wasn’t that I hadn’t been able to see them from the master’s place, but I’d felt a disconnect there from everything, including the beauty of the natural world that was all around me.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
But when you start to focus on improving the metric, it often disconnects from the thing you actually care about underneath.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
“This space is on fire despite stock price disconnects YTD for basically all of AI semis,” Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes wrote on Friday.
From Barron's ● Mar. 9, 2026
A dispassionate prompt—one that reminds leaders of what they have agreed to—can make a real difference by highlighting disconnects and asking, “Are you OK with that?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2025
Seeing history as just the past, as something that progress disconnects us from, is a habit.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2023
When I don’t respond, he disconnects after a curt “Try to remember.”
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
Gaming website IGN described the film as getting off to a "stylish start",, external but said it "increasingly feels disconnected from any sense of reality, even its own" along the way.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
They are also profoundly disconnected from one another and from the world around them.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
Over the past few months, the performance of the premier U.S. equity index has grown increasingly disconnected from that of the average U.S.-traded stock.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Haymon said her experience as a candidate has revealed that many people feel disconnected from the justice system.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The words were like disconnected threads in Ekon’s mind that he couldn’t tie together.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
The mind learns that disconnecting can allow a person to get space from the sensations, emotions, or experiences that are painful or overwhelming.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
"I was bored sometimes, and that's okay," West recalled one recent evening at a city community garden where detox participants met to share their struggles and joys of disconnecting.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
Some technology companies are fighting a potential solution: disconnecting the data centers from the grid when electricity is in short supply.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026
And some area residents will be without cable television and internet, as Cox Communications announced it will be disconnecting service to 146 customers in the Portuguese Bend Community Assn. starting Monday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2024
Just like Mommy did years before me, I began my own process of running, emotionally disconnecting myself from her, as if by doing so I could keep her suffering from touching me.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
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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.
