Disband

verb

verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To break up or (cause to) cease to exist; to disperse. ambitransitive

    "The president wanted to disband the scandal-plagued agency."

  2. 2
    stop functioning or cohering as a unit wordnet
  3. 3
    To loose the bands of; to set free. obsolete, transitive
  4. 4
    cause to break up or cease to function wordnet
  5. 5
    To divorce. obsolete, transitive

    "And therefore […] she ought to be disbanded."

Synonyms

All synonyms
adjournbreakbreak updeactivatedebriefdecommission

Example

More examples

"My reading group voted to disband."

Etymology

Attested since the 1590s, from Middle French desbander (Modern French débander), from des- (English dis-) + bande (English band), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie”). By surface analysis, dis- + band.

Related phrases

break up

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