disestablish
Americanverb (used with object)
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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:
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
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt responded by moving to disestablish the tribe’s trust status, “which requires Interior to rescind its earlier decision,” said department spokesman Conner Swanson in a statement.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 8, 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
Coming from a Presbyterian who helped to disestablish the Church in Wales, this showed the heights of altruism to which a real philosopher may rise.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, June 11, 1919 by Various
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 Hamerton, Philip Gilbert
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’s landmark 2020 decision that found that much of eastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation because it was never formally disestablished by Congress.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 29, 2023
“Wagner was going to be disestablished and we protested that decision,” Mr. Prigozhin said Monday.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 26, 2023
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
Although the Church is disestablished in Ireland, tithes are still paid, not to the clergy, but to the Government.
From The Church Handy Dictionary by Anonymous
“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
An Act was passed in 1914 disestablishing and disendowing the Church in Wales and Monmouthshire.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 2: Ebert to Estremadura 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.
