disrobe
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
-
to remove the clothing of (a person) or (of a person) to undress
-
(tr) to divest of authority, etc
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disrobe
Explanation
When you disrobe, you take your clothes off. Before you go swimming, you should probably disrobe and put on a bathing suit. Everyone disrobes, before we take a shower, change our clothes, or go skinny dipping. To disrobe is simply to get undressed. You might disrobe in a dressing room to try on a tuxedo or disrobe before your karate class so you can put on your white karate gi. The word uses the prefix dis-, "do the opposite of," before robe, with its old fashioned verb sense of "clothe."
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:
When we were eventually led into Osmosis’ tidy changing rooms to disrobe, I smelled what she meant before I saw it.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2025
I’m a fairly cerebral person and a lot of the work you have to do is disrobe yourself of reason, instincts, caution and understand it with what Ezra Pound called your “belly-mind.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2024
If you find the skins difficult to remove, drop the fruit in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds, plunge in an ice bath and then they should be more easy to disrobe.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2021
Pell would only have gone to the sacristy to disrobe, and that was always done with the help of at least one other cleric.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 19, 2019
To explain: Austria has on him the "skin-coat" of Cœur-de-Lion, and Blanch cries,— "O! well did he become that lion's robe, That did disrobe the lion of that robe."
From Notes and Queries, Number 203, September 17, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by George Bell
Sue Tilley was 35 years old and working in a London employment office when she disrobed and let British artist Lucian Freud paint her in the nude.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Cameras are likely to pan away as they did when Queen Elizabeth was disrobed of her cloak and jewellery during her televised coronation in 1953.
From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2023
It kind of disrobed a layer of caution or insecurity that was there for a long time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2022
He headed western U.S. congregations but was disrobed in a church trial last year after officials concluded he had mishandled funds.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 25, 2022
Then I disrobed, unpinned my hair and cleansed my face with cold cream.
From My Actor-Husband A true story of American stage life by Anonymous
But the disrobing has other benefits: A thick, sour miasma of pig excrement engulfs me as I make my way inside, and I’m glad I’ve left my clothes behind.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 7, 2023
She delivered again, face stripped of makeup and disrobing from her couture to wear a simple black t-shirt and ripped jeans to perform "Hold My Hand" from "Top Gun."
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2023
If the animal is wearing a coat or sweater, the officer may subject the pet to a pat-down, but disrobing the animal is not necessary.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 24, 2023
Later that day, the fresh tape on her temples would unstick in time for the scrubbing, disrobing, and de-wigging that must take place before Sarah can go home to her wife.
From Slate ● Mar. 29, 2019
He felt that even in speaking in that way he would be indicating how hopeless he felt, thereby disrobing his soul to more shame.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
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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.
