disinter

American  

[dis-in-tur] / ˌdɪs ɪnˈtɜr /

verb (used with object)

disinters, present (3rd person singular) disinterred, past participle, past disinterring present participle

1. to take out of the place of interment; exhume; unearth.

2. to bring from obscurity into view.

   The actor's autobiography disinterred a past era.

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disinter British  

/ ˌdɪsɪnˈtɜː /

verb

1. to remove or dig up; exhume

2. to bring (a secret, hidden facts, etc) to light; expose

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• disinterment
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• disinterring
  present
• disinterred
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• disinter
  simple
• disinters
  simple
• have disinterred
  perfect
• has disinterred
  perfect
• am disinterring
  progressive
• are disinterring
  progressive
• is disinterring
  progressive
• have been disinterring
  perfect progressive
• has been disinterring
  perfect progressive

Past

• disinterred
  simple
• had disinterred
  perfect
• was disinterring
  progressive
• were disinterring
  progressive
• had been disinterring
  perfect progressive

Future

• will disinter
  simple
• will have disinterred
  perfect
• will be disinterring
  progressive
• will have been disinterring
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of disinter

First recorded in 1605–15; dis- ¹ + inter

Explanation

To "inter" a body is to bury it or place it in a mausoleum, so to disinter someone is to take the body out again — usually to find out how they died, to make sure it's really who we think it is, or to move the body to a new burial site. You might think you got away with murder, but once they disinter the body, the medical examiners will find out that the guy was a victim of your evil plot. A vampire sleeps all day in his own coffin and then disinters himself at night to go in search of blood. One way to remember the meaning of disinter is to think of "dis-entering" a body. When someone dies, their body is "entered" into the grave. If the body is removed, it's being "dis-entered," in a sense. But disinter is spelled — and pronounced — differently (diss-in-TUR), of course.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

disinter disinters disinterred disinterring

Ingrid Rojas Contreras goes on to explore her family’s history as curanderos — South American shamans like her grandfather, whose bones the family decides to disinter in accordance with his spectral request.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2022

To fully identify graves, remains, and identities, researchers must also gather records, collect oral histories, and possibly disinter bodies — and it's not clear yet if communities will want to take the final painful step.

From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2022

Banaji also said the agency doesn't plan to disinter the remains and try to identify them because it lacks sufficient documentation.

From Fox News ● Aug. 2, 2021

Banaji also said the agency doesn’t plan to disinter the remains and try to identify them because it lacks sufficient documentation.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 1, 2021

As though he could disinter it by force.

From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner

Back at Sayyida Nafisa cemetery, Iman remains distraught as she disinters her relatives.

From BBC ● May 26, 2023

What is also apparent is that Glam! disinters a past that has never been buried.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 6, 2013

Snapped Connor: "Now Mr. Waugh, in the role of an eager exhumer, disinters the corpse and with busy spade and blazing arclights, goes smartly to work in the graveyard of the past."

From Time Magazine Archive

What kind of ideological ghoul disinters the dead and uses them for purposes they did not believe in while they lived?

From Time Magazine Archive

The regular translator, in fact, is nothing less than a literary ghoul, who lives upon the mangled carcasses of the departed—a mere sack-'em-up, who disinters the dead, and sells their remains for money.

From The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain The Works of William Carleton, Volume One by Carleton, William

Several graves were being disinterred during my visit.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2023

The leader of the Falange was disinterred in a private ceremony in presence of his family, away from public scrutiny.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 24, 2023

In 2021, the remains were disinterred for testing, and in February of this year, laboratory analysis “and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available” established one set of remains as Carrillo’s, according to the agency.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2023

At a ceremony two years ago to return nine disinterred remains of Rosebud Sioux children, U.S.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 24, 2023

Like those disinterred dead from his childhood that had been relocated to accommodate a highway.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

The process of disinterring the remains for DNA analysis began in 2015, and since then 355 have been identified, according to the Navy.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 18, 2022

The celebration is believed to have its roots in the Uru Chipaya custom of disinterring the bodies of loved ones at the one-year anniversary of their death.

From Reuters ● Nov. 9, 2021

Meikle said the sheriff identified the body as that of Dickens the day after Frankie Kerrigan surfaced, before disinterring the body.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2018

“Good soil in this tomb,” Fourth Wife You remarks, disinterring her husband.

From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 2018

In the years between the First World War and the disinterring of Luigi Boccherini’s bones, music’s family had expanded prolifically.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall