dislocation
Americannoun
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dislocations
plural
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an act or instance of dislocating.
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the state of being dislocated.
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Crystallography. (in a crystal lattice) a line about which there is a discontinuity in the lattice structure.
noun
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the act of displacing or the state of being displaced; disruption
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(esp of the bones in a joint) the state or condition of being dislocated
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a line, plane, or region in which there is a discontinuity in the regularity of a crystal lattice
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geology a less common word for fault
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dislocation
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How does dislocation compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Abruptly moving something (or someone) out of its usual place is dislocation. Cutting down the oak tree in your back yard will cause the dislocation of the birds that always build their nests in it. The word dislocation has several different meanings, but they all have something to do with displacement, moving something from its proper place. A joint dislocation happens when a bone is moved (painfully) out of its normal spot: "A common trampoline injury is elbow dislocation." Human dislocation can occur during war, or after a natural disaster forces people to move away from their homes. The Latin root is dislocare, "put out of place."
Vocabulary lists containing dislocation
30 GRE Words Beginning with "D"
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Part 3 Vocabulary (Unit 6)
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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:
But there was still time for resident villain Horwood to direct a jibe at broadcaster Will Best's hip action: "Call in the paramedics darling, dislocation - my goodness."
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
New technologies bring dislocation, as changes in farming have to small towns where I live.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
A dislocation in pricing then, can and probably will persist.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Yet for all its honesty about that dislocation, the film remains remarkably hopeful.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
The left wheel strikes a stone and he hears, or thinks he does, a bump that may be the dislocation of his trunk.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
These vectors amplify market dislocations as multiple participants simultaneously unwind positions.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
He said the firm is seeing dislocations in industrial and transportation companies in particular.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
"We directly introduced dislocations in CoAl during sputtering deposition," Zhang said.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026
Glencore had guided to the unit’s performance normalizing in the second half of the year but there is clearly upside given that energy market dislocations continue, LaFemina writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Scientific journals had already recorded some 50 species involved in violent dislocations of nature’s balance by 1958.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
