disestablish
Americanverb (used with object)
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disestablishes,
present (3rd person singular)
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disestablished,
past participle, past
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disestablishing
present participle
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to deprive of the character of being established; cancel; abolish.
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to withdraw exclusive state recognition or support from (a church).
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disestablishsimple
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disestablishessimple
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have disestablishedperfect
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has disestablishedperfect
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am disestablishingprogressive
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are disestablishingprogressive
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is disestablishingprogressive
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have been disestablishingperfect progressive
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has been disestablishingperfect progressive
Past
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disestablishedsimple
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had disestablishedperfect
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was disestablishingprogressive
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were disestablishingprogressive
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had been disestablishingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disestablish
Explanation
To disestablish something is to take away its official status. If your school’s table tennis team isn’t any good, why not disestablish it and start a new one? To establish something is to found it or to set it up. To disestablish something is to do the opposite. This word is typically used in the context of national churches. When such a church is disestablished, it loses its official status. This word is notable for being part of one of the longest words in the English language: opposition to disestablishment is called antidisestablishmentarianism.
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:
Federal policies at various points in history sought to disestablish reservations and force Native Americans into cities.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 6, 2023
Virginia Heffernan talks to Fordham Law professor Jed Shugerman, about the big picture behind Amy Coney Barrett, ways we can disestablish the Senate, and the concept of originalism when interpreting the U.S.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2020
Influenced by deistic distaste for sectarian disputes, pragmatic politicians would eventually decide that the best solution was to disestablish the churches and cut off public funding in the name of religious freedom.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
Government programs, once established, do not tend to disestablish themselves, but the growth and modernization of the federal government was probably inevitable.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 21, 2015
That is a very good argument for the ministers, and we shall see by-and-by, if the conversion of Scotland proceeds much further, that you may be asked to disestablish their Church.
From Speeches on Questions of Public Policy, Volume 1 by John Bright
We live in a proudly rebellious country that fought a divisive Revolutionary War to get rid of kings and lords, establishing a nation that disestablishes religion.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 5, 2012
In Ireland it disestablishes and disendows a hierarchy.
From The Intellectual Life by Philip Gilbert Hamerton
The structure of state government and public infrastructure were built on the understanding that Congress had disestablished the former reservations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
Supreme Court ruling known as the McGirt decision, that held the Muscogee Nation reservation in northeast Oklahoma was never disestablished by Congress.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 30, 2021
The Court of Criminal Appeals is expected to affirm recent state court rulings that the reservations of the other four tribes were never disestablished.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 16, 2020
It was launched in 1985 and disestablished in 2002 as the Pentagon reorganized in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 29, 2019
Granting that we yielded Catholic Emancipation, reformed the tithe system, disestablished the Church, and legalized tenant right; why, after all these things, should we expect gratitude?
From Practical Politics; or, the Liberalism of To-day by Alfred Farthing Robbins
“I have not heard anyone seriously contemplating the idea of disestablishing it,” Harrison said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2020
But quickly that changed and people saw that that was not consistent with the fundamental freedom of the revolutionary spirit and you had the process of disestablishing all of these state churches over time.
From Slate ● Apr. 19, 2017
In “Phineas Redux,” Mr. Daubeny, the Conservative Disraeli figure, decides to keep power by proposing the radical idea of disestablishing the Church of England.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 27, 2015
Thus the Sunday Closing Act was celebrated in Wales as an important step on the road to disestablishing the Anglican church and getting the nonconformist chapels recognised on the same footing.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2011
The union of the churches was dissolved in 1871 by an act of 1869 for disestablishing the Irish Church.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 4 "England" to "English Finance" by Various
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.
