disappeared

American  

[dis-uh-peerd] / ˌdɪs əˈpɪərd /

adjective

1. having vanished from sight or existence.

   Right this minute, the only thing I want to do is to find a way to recover my disappeared phone photos.

   The museum displays tools and artifacts from an almost disappeared culture, known only from one archaeological site.

2. (of a person) having vanished under suspicious or unknown circumstances.

   Family members of the disappeared persons were denied the right to any effective remedy, including the right to know the fate of their loved ones.

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noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. none the disappeared people, especially political opponents, who have vanished under suspicious or unknown circumstances, or without due process of law.

   The determination of the parents, grandparents, and—most recently—children of the disappeared is finally putting dictators, torturers, and their accomplices behind bars.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of disappear.

Etymology

Origin of disappeared

First recorded in 1400–50 as a verb: disappear ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ), and in 1640–50 as an adjective: disappear ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

"Two months without a phone at my age is like you've fallen off the face of the earth and disappeared," she said.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

Long after the owl, hutia, and possibly even the bees had disappeared, paleontologists uncovered this unusual record preserved in stone.

From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026

The splitter had fallen out of fashion and all but disappeared from Major League Baseball.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

Yet the intellectual impulse behind it has not disappeared.

From Slate • Mar. 31, 2026

The train was shorter; the cars carrying the men had disappeared.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Related Words

• absent
• adrift
• disoriented
• hidden
• invisible
• misplaced
• vanished