disembark
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to go ashore from a ship.
-
to leave an aircraft or other vehicle.
verb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- disembarkation noun
- disembarkment noun
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.
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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.
On Uniworld cruises to Provence, people disembark to a family-owned truffle farm.
From Salon • Mar. 14, 2026
In a statement, it said that "arriving passengers may experience delays to disembark aircraft due to wind speeds".
From BBC • Jan. 27, 2026
The third room is the dry land that kids step onto when they disembark from the ark.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 14, 2026
NAGOYA, Japan—The tourists who crowd the bullet trains from Tokyo tend not to disembark at Nagoya as they speed along the so-called Golden Route linking the Japanese capital with Kyoto and Osaka.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 4, 2025
I climb down, and while the rest of the girls disembark I study the gates.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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.
