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:
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
“Your own family members often hold opposing opinions, but you don’t disown them for that,” Mr. Warren wrote.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 12, 2023
She had taken a job as a secretary and was living at home because her father had threatened to disown her if she moved out on her own.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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
When Guida comes home alone, without her sailor but great with child, she is greeted with fury by her father, who disowns her, while her mother cowers in the background.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 13, 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
His mother recognizes him, but he disowns her, declaring her mad, and by strength of will he compels the poor mother to renounce him.
From The Standard Operaglass Detailed Plots of One Hundred and Fifty-one Celebrated Operas by Charles Annesley
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
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
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
If I hadn’t married Bull, I think mother would have disowned me.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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
Supporting her now does not require disowning a single position.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2022
I heard women reveal to men that the children they’d raised were not theirs and elderly parents inform grown sons and daughters that they were disowning them.
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
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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.
