disunion
AmericanEtymology
Origin of disunion
Explanation
Disunion describes what happens when a club disbands or a marriage breaks up. The disunion of your book group means all the members have gone their separate ways. The noun disunion means the coming apart of some connection or alliance, and because it's such a formal word it's often used to talk about governments or business federations. You could say that the disunion of Britain and India resulted in Partition, or that the US Civil War nearly ended in disunion. The word combines dis, "lack or not," and union, with its Latin root of unionem, "oneness or unity."
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.
He all but welcomed disunion because it offered him a chance to pursue his only true passion: Army service.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Here is the quintessential Westerner about to transform himself from Honest Abe the rail-splitter into Father Abraham, the avuncular statesman capable of handling the looming crisis over disunion and slavery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
“To choose love over hate, unity over disunion, progress over retreat.”
From Seattle Times ● May 13, 2023
Over the next three years, the country descended into disunion, followed by civil war.
From New York Times ● Dec. 21, 2022
It is an army of remarkable unity, fighting for disunion.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
