debunk
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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debunksimple
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debunkssimple
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have debunkedperfect
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has debunkedperfect
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am debunkingprogressive
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are debunkingprogressive
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is debunkingprogressive
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have been debunkingperfect progressive
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has been debunkingperfect progressive
Past
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debunkedsimple
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had debunkedperfect
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was debunkingprogressive
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were debunkingprogressive
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had been debunkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of debunk
Explanation
When you debunk something you show it to be false. Many magicians, including Houdini and Penn and Teller, have worked to debunk the idea that magic is anything other than a very clever illusion. To debunk something is to prove it wrong. The idea that music education is frivolous and should be the first item cut from the budget is something that music teachers work hard to debunk — in fact, they've done it by proving that students perform better in schools with strong music programs. The verb debunk was first used by an American writer, William Woodward, in 1923, to mean "take the bunk out of something." Bunk means "nonsense."
Vocabulary lists containing debunk
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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Vocabulary from the Third and Final Presidential Debate, October 19, 2016
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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:
WSJ: So it doesn’t matter if humans who want to debunk conspiracy theories are condescending?
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026
It’s important to debunk this genetic stuff as we now live in a genomic age in which science has been used to justify all sorts of atrocity.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026
Though easy to debunk, such theories persist as Artemis II comes decades after the previous lunar missions, events today's internet-savvy generation has little recollection of.
From Barron's ● Apr. 11, 2026
The authors debunk commonly held myths that cast senior citizens as inept, scam-prone users of the internet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
Thankfully the rest of the world assumed that the Irish were crazy, a theory that the Irish themselves did nothing to debunk.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
AFP's global network has produced more than 500 debunks of false information in multiple languages since the conflict began -- a rate never before seen in such a crisis.
From Barron's ● Apr. 2, 2026
“The film itself debunks any attempts to debunk it.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
Liz O'Riordan, who herself has breast cancer, often debunks health misinformation online.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2025
“The Colonel and the King” debunks some of the most stubborn myths about Parker, refuting the notion that Parker destroyed Elvis’ career by force-feeding awful material down his throat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2025
The text of these articles often debunks the talking point by pointing out that Musk's numbers are made up, but most people don't read articles.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2025
The view of Bitcoin as a hedge against volatility has been out of favor for a while but ongoing developments in the Middle East have thoroughly debunked it.
From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026
Crenshaw thoroughly debunked the administration’s ongoing narrative about Abrego Garcia.
From Slate ● May 28, 2026
The cliché of Ozu’s films being austere or even severe is debunked by his work involving children, and by remembrances of the now-aged children he directed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
Our reviews of court files found that statements made by the arresting officers were repeatedly debunked by video footage.
From Salon ● Apr. 15, 2026
Every medium so studied has been debunked, if not in the sessions, then by materials, photos, or interviews after the fact.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
An American former newspaper columnist took to his Substack page to attempt a debunking, which offered a coherent if implausible theory of why Europe isn’t all that bad and America isn’t all that great.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
If every event is met with automatic suspicion and conspiracy theory, we’ll spend all our time debunking nonsense, and nothing will ever get better.
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2026
Internet users are increasingly turning to chatbots to verify images in real time, but the tools often fail, raising questions about their visual debunking capabilities.
From Barron's ● Dec. 16, 2025
If a fact-checker rated a post as false, Meta notified the user and added a warning label with a link to an article debunking its claims.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2025
Its place in the canons of poetics and rhetoric, moreover, has largely survived the personal debunking of its author.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
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.
