disown
Americanverb (used with object)
-
disowns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disowned,
past participle, past
-
disowning
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
disownsimple
-
disownssimple
-
have disownedperfect
-
has disownedperfect
-
am disowningprogressive
-
are disowningprogressive
-
is disowningprogressive
-
have been disowningperfect progressive
-
has been disowningperfect progressive
Past
-
disownedsimple
-
had disownedperfect
-
was disowningprogressive
-
were disowningprogressive
-
had been disowningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disown
Explanation
To disown someone is to reject them. If you disown your brother, you refuse to have anything to do with him: not only do you not speak or have contact, but it's as if he's no longer related to you. When one person disowns another, it's because of some terrible argument or deep-rooted conflict. Although it's uncommon to disown another person, when it happens it's usually a family member who's cast off. Your mom might threaten to disown you after you drive her car into the mailbox, but she's probably not serious. Disown takes the root word own, meaning "to have or to hold," and adds the Latin prefix dis, "not" or "do the opposite of."
Vocabulary lists containing disown
The Prince and the Dressmaker
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Ship Breaker
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So Far from the Bamboo Grove
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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:
“My family would disown me,” he told the network in an email.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 29, 2023
“They disown they people, but what a day when I and I people come together — start to hold each other,” reggae legend Burning Spear sings in “Greetings,” his 1982 musical plea to Black America.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2023
Rishi Sunak had to disown them publicly, insisting Ukraine had always been grateful.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2023
In California, complaints have driven administrators at the Encinitas Union School District to disown a Disney villain-themed drag show occurring Saturday as part of a queer youth “Boo Bash.”
From Washington Times ● Oct. 27, 2022
I would have to back out of it, I would have to disown it.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
If the ships are falsely flagged or flagged to a country that disowns them, the tankers can be subject to U.S. jurisdiction while in international waters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
You can detect the traces of the predecessor in the inheritor, even if the inheritor disowns any knowledge of the inheritance.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 16, 2019
Nonetheless, Serpa eventually found himself sympathising with the character of Crowe - a washed-up musician who disowns his biggest album as "the sound of someone having his fingernails pulled out".
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2018
Nanjiani’s acceptance into his girlfriend’s family is equally fraught, even if no one disowns anyone.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 21, 2017
The old man's conscience was smitten by this, and he burst out into lamentation—"If my old and familiar friend disowns me thus, what may I expect from my God whom I have denied!"
From Sketches of Church History From A.D. 33 to the Reformation by Robertson, James Craigie
Even though no allegations had been proven against Mondal, his mother appeared to have disowned her son and refused to accept his body.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
He has disowned his previous Merkelism; as prime minister, he now champions Canada’s emergence as an “energy superpower” helping to restabilize the world and, not incidentally, Canada’s internal politics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
In her memoir, Erivo writes at length about her estrangement from her father, who disowned her when she was 16 after an argument in a London train station.
From Salon ● Nov. 18, 2025
But uncertainty surrounds the royal succession, with no public announcement of an heir to the current king -- among his seven children, four have been officially disowned.
From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2025
One dreamed up an “interview” with Seabiscuit, in which the horse disowned his year- younger half-uncle, War Admiral.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
He was born in Los Angeles to a white American mother and a Japanese father, the latter effectively disowning him while he was still in the womb.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
The families of both Abu Shabab and Al-Astal issued statements disowning them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2025
The Jewish Community of Guatemala has issued a statement disowning the sect, describing it as foreign to its own organisation.
From BBC ● Dec. 23, 2024
Supporting her now does not require disowning a single position.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2022
I knew the stories of many bad sons and daughters who had angered their parents to the point of the disowning curse.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
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.
