verb ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To free (someone) of a misconception or misapprehension; to unveil a falsehood held by (someone). transitive

   "I had been too profoundly disabused of life's dearest illusions ever again to allow of their sweet engrossment."

2. 2
   free somebody (from an erroneous belief) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

undeceiveamendawakenbreak the spellburst the bubbleconflict

Example

More examples

"Nothing could disabuse them of that preposterous notion."

Etymology

From dis- + abuse. Compare French désabuser.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.