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
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are disowningprogressive
-
is disowningprogressive
-
have been disowningperfect progressive
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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:
Just disown it and make a spectacle of disowning it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
"We disown his actions and we disown what he has done in every single way."
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2025
“My family would disown me,” he told the network in an email.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 29, 2023
“His view is if it’s good for him at that moment, he’ll do it, and then if something bad happens, he’ll disown any responsibility for it,” the former governor said.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 16, 2023
“I ... I am afraid. Ladon will stop me. My sisters, if they found out. . . they would disown me.”
From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
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
Nanjiani’s acceptance into his girlfriend’s family is equally fraught, even if no one disowns anyone.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 21, 2017
The new perpetual secretary of the Academie disowns the Druon changes.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2016
But I ask you: Is it just or fair to hold the Church responsible for those acts of her children which she disowns?
From The Faith of Our Fathers by James Gibbons
About 10 years ago, when he first wanted to go public with the truth, his mother disowned him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has effectively been fired out of a cannon — disowned by the Royal Family and the political classes, and stripped of his titles.
From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026
Dagwood Bumstead was the scion of a rich family that disowned him when he married Blondie, a flapper — forcing him to take an office job under the irascible J.C.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025
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
“Me and Penelope supported Marion for ten years after his father disowned him. Marion was a mess right up until he died, but what can I say. His sister loved him.”
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
Just disown it and make a spectacle of disowning it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 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
The trend is so pronounced that some Chinese activists have taken to making preemptive “if I lose my freedom” videos, disowning any future “confessions” they might be forced to make.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 22, 2021
Mom thought it was a great plan, but Dad accused Lori of stealing his children and declared he was disowning her.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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.
