disabuse
verb
Did you know?
Taken as a product of its parts, one might assume that disabuse means “to not abuse.” While the usage has changed over the years, that assumption isn’t entirely wrong. We know the verb abuse as a word with various meanings having to do with bad physical or verbal treatment, as well as incorrect or excessive use, but when disabuse first appeared in the 17th century, there was a sense of abuse, now obsolete, that meant “to deceive.” Francis Bacon used that meaning, for example, when he wrote in 1605, “You are much abused if you think your virtue can withstand the King’s power.” The prefix dis- has the sense of undoing the effect of a verb, so it’s logical that disabuse means “to undeceive.” English speakers didn’t come up with the idea of joining dis- to abuse all on their own, however. It was the French who first appended their prefix dés- to their verb abuser; our disabuse is modeled after the French word désabuser.
Examples of disabuse in a Sentence
Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 25 Feb. 2025
We’ve been thoroughly disabused of the notion that consumers want another streaming service.
—Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
This did nothing to disabuse fans and media of the notion that its executive team is shadowy.
—James Horncastle, The Athletic, 30 Dec. 2024
For true believers in the cult of social justice, even Mangum’s confession will not disabuse them of their belief that those who are born into the wrong identities are the illegitimate beneficiaries of generational theft.
—The Editors, National Review, 17 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for disabuse
Cite this Entry
“Disabuse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disabuse. Accessed 8 Apr. 2025.
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disabuse
verb
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