dissociate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
dissociates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dissociated,
past participle, past
-
dissociating
present participle
-
to break the association of; separate.
The organization issued a statement dissociating itself from the violent protests.
It’s difficult for me to dissociate cranberries from Thanksgiving.
-
Psychiatry.
-
to cause (certain mental processes or parts of the personality) to become separated from the main part of a person's consciousness as a result of trauma or mental illness.
To avoid fear or pain, the victim may dissociate the memory of the place, circumstances, or feelings related to the incident.
-
to cause (a person) to undergo this kind of internal split.
He may be so dissociated from his feelings that he can’t rely on them as a clue to whom to trust.
-
-
Chemistry.
-
to cause (a complex substance) to resolve or decompose into its simpler constituents as a result of a change in physical conditions.
UV radiation dissociates NO2 into NO (nitrogen monoxide) and O (atomic oxygen).
-
to cause (a constituent of a complex substance) to separate from others in this way.
Within hours, the oxygen became dissociated from the hemoglobin of the blood clot.
-
to cause (the molecules of an electrolyte) to separate into their constituent atoms.
-
verb (used without object)
-
dissociates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dissociated,
past participle, past
-
dissociating
present participle
-
to end or break an association; disconnect or become disconnected.
Users tend to dissociate from websites that require them to fill out a form.
-
Psychiatry. to undergo the splitting off of certain mental processes from the main part of one’s consciousness as a result of trauma or mental illness.
As a child she learned to dissociate from the pain of abandonment.
-
Chemistry.
-
(of a complex substance) to resolve or decompose reversibly into its simpler constituents as a result of a change in physical conditions.
Under great heat, water dissociates into hydrogen and oxygen.
-
(of a constituent) to become separated from the other constituents of a complex substance in this way.
At this point in the process, subunits of the protein dissociate from each other and from the receptor.
-
(of the molecules of an electrolyte) to separate into their constituent atoms.
Strong electrolytes dissociate completely, leaving only individual ions in the solution with virtually no intact molecules.
-
verb
-
to break or cause to break the association between (people, organizations, etc)
-
(tr) to regard or treat as separate or unconnected
-
to undergo or subject to dissociation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dissociatesimple
-
dissociatessimple
-
have dissociatedperfect
-
has dissociatedperfect
-
am dissociatingprogressive
-
are dissociatingprogressive
-
is dissociatingprogressive
-
have been dissociatingperfect progressive
-
has been dissociatingperfect progressive
Past
-
dissociatedsimple
-
had dissociatedperfect
-
was dissociatingprogressive
-
were dissociatingprogressive
-
had been dissociatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dissociate
First recorded in 1605–15; dis- 1 + (as)sociate, modeled on Latin dissociātus “divided,” past participle of dissociāre “to divide, sever”
Explanation
To dissociate is to break apart from someone, such as an employee leaving a business or a spouse leaving a marriage. Dissociate is the opposite of associate. It comes from the Latin dissociare, which means basically "to disunite." To dissociate is to stop associating with someone. If a relationship ends, the two people are dissociated from one another. When you see the word dissociate, think "break-up."
Vocabulary lists containing dissociate
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:
Today, after all the publicity generated by the US and UK sanctions, businesses are rushing to dissociate themselves from the Prince Group.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2025
Mazin: If you make me dissociate, I’m watching.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2025
Maybe you're angry for some *waves hands* reason, and need to blow off steam with some shoot-'em-up action or dissociate from your everyday reality.
From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2024
Because of this, only two of the three acid groups in the citric acid dissociate.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 15, 2024
Part of her wanted to just leave, just run away inside her head, dissociate deeper than anyone could find, but Jam knew she had to stay.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
ATP dissociates and the energy released by breaking of a phosphate bond within ATP is used for phosphorylation of another molecule.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
When a nonsense codon is encountered, a release factor binds and dissociates the components and frees the new protein.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Unless quickly used to perform work, ATP spontaneously dissociates into ADP + Pi, and the free energy released during this process is lost as heat.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
An electrolyte is a compound that dissociates into ions when dissolved in water.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 25, 2013
The protein molecule dissociates at a high temperature, with formation of volatile products, and therefore foods rich in protein should not be subjected to extreme heat, as losses of food value may result.
From Human Foods and Their Nutritive Value by Harry Snyder
She now believes she dissociated during the encounter and there was a "massive power imbalance", she said.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
Suede quickly dissociated from Britpop when it curdled into something the band couldn’t recognize; something that, to the group, resembled a kind of jingoism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2025
The police dissociated itself from the information and said an investigation was under way to identify those responsible.
From BBC ● May 21, 2025
In his scheme, the qubits would consist not of atoms, but those special anyon pairs, which can capture quantum information in their dissociated electrons.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 20, 2023
State and local affiliates dissociated from the National and formed new groups.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
"If you can trick gold into dissociating oxygen, it can actually become a very effective catalyst for certain reactions," Montemore said.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
There was crying, complaining, dissociating and even laughing on those couches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026
"She's created popularity by dissociating herself from the party's stagnant image," he says.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
Some people respond by mentally "dissociating," or disconnecting from their physical selves.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2021
At its annual convention in Washington, DC, a group of women offered a resolution officially dissociating the group from Stanton and The Woman's Bible.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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.
