disembark
Americanverb (used without object)
-
disembarks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disembarked,
past participle, past
-
disembarking
present participle
-
to go ashore from a ship.
-
to leave an aircraft or other vehicle.
verb (used with object)
-
disembarks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disembarked,
past participle, past
-
disembarking
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
disembarksimple
-
disembarkssimple
-
have disembarkedperfect
-
has disembarkedperfect
-
am disembarkingprogressive
-
are disembarkingprogressive
-
is disembarkingprogressive
-
have been disembarkingperfect progressive
-
has been disembarkingperfect progressive
Past
-
disembarkedsimple
-
had disembarkedperfect
-
was disembarkingprogressive
-
were disembarkingprogressive
-
had been disembarkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disembark
1575–85; < Middle French desembarquer, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + embarquer to embark
Explanation
Use the verb disembark to describe leaving a ship, airplane or other type of vehicle, like making sure you haven't left anything in the plane's overhead compartment before you disembark. Embark means "putting passengers in a plane or on a boat." Disembark is its opposite. When you disembark, you leave a ship or a plane, like when you can't wait to disembark at the port in order to go sight-seeing. When you disembark, there is a transition — you walk down a gangplank to go from water to land or down a special corridor to get from the runway to the airport terminal — unlike when you get out of a car. That's why you wouldn't use disembark for getting out of a car.
Vocabulary lists containing disembark
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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:
When visitors disembark the train, they head to an area inspired by Hogsmeade, a village that sits outside Hogwarts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
"Parties to the conflict should urgently work to facilitate safe passage for stranded seafarers to safely evacuate and disembark, as well as ensure the delivery of critical supplies," Mantoo added.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Local authorities in Bordeaux said three passengers had been isolated in their cabins on the Ambition, while other passengers will not be able to disembark in the port.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
Thirty people, including the deceased passenger, disembark in St. Helena.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
When the conductor opened the door and lowered the steps, only two passengers stood in the door, waiting to disembark: a man and a woman, their hands intertwined.
From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Once Chaplin’s character disembarks, though, a bit of pluck and a stranger’s generosity pull him out of a possible pit, and a new American life is born.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
The train then pulls into a station, and the man disembarks and flees down the platform.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2025
Now, there is a Secret Service agent positioned at the bottom of the stairs when he disembarks.
From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2024
She disembarks at New York City’s Port Authority Bus Terminal just in time for the Fourth of July weekend, 2015.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2022
The moment the last person disembarks, the equipment retracts.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
Trump Jr., traveling on a separate plane, landed at a private airport a half-hour away from Cincinnati’s main airport, where Guilfoyle disembarked.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
He then re-boarded the legacy Air Force One and disembarked from this plane.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Kamba added there had been no Ebola cases in Mongala Province - where the passenger who died disembarked - contrary to earlier reports.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Some 400 years ago, a six-legged invader disembarked on the coast of Spanish Florida and began making its way across North America.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
It was a quick flight to Detroit, where the little electric car met us as we disembarked and drove us to the gate for Amsterdam.
From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
He was then seen disembarking Air Force One in the UK, before boarding his newer, Qatari-gifted jet and returning to the US.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
The fire broke out on Sunday morning as passengers were eating breakfast, survivor Muhammad Abdul Karim told reporters in Surabaya after disembarking from a rescue vessel.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
Because the carriage had partially rolled in a remote location, passengers faced a jump down when disembarking and had to wait in a nearby field, she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
Passengers in blue medical suits began disembarking the vessel on Sunday to reach the small industrial port of Granadilla on Tenerife, AFP journalists saw.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
He was imagining disembarking from the sleigh onto the seraph’s palm, and Sarai standing before him, as real as his own flesh and blood.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
