- past participle of disillusion.
- past tense form of disillusion.
disillusioned
Britishadjective
Explanation
People who are disillusioned have lost their illusions. This is usually meant in a negative way, as disillusioned people tend to be a little bitter. When you're disillusioned, you're wiser but not necessarily happier: you've learned from experience that life isn't always how you'd like it to be. Getting divorced could leave you disillusioned about marriage and love. Finding out a teacher cheated could leave you disillusioned about education. We all are disillusioned at some point, and it's usually a bit depressing. Often, ignorance really is bliss.
Vocabulary lists containing disillusioned
Power Prefix: dis-
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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.
Despite rapidly rising through the ranks of London finance, Anderson said he became disillusioned by "greed, reckless risk-taking and rule breaking in the industry".
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Professor Biao Xiang has become an unlikely guide for an increasingly disillusioned generation.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Meet the men who still love Bitcoin: Cryptocurrency’s power has declined, but it still holds a powerful allure to some people disillusioned with America’s economic system.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2026
Those unsatisfying wars weren’t the only reasons Americans grew more disillusioned as the years unfolded, of course.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
A short time after the trial and conviction, one of Ames's disillusioned CIA colleagues reflected on the larger meaning of his capture and sentencing.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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.
