What does "disbar" mean?

To expel from the bar, or the legal profession; to deprive (an attorney, barrister, or counselor) of his or her status and privileges as such.

What is a synonym for "disbar"?

Common synonyms include: boot, bounce, break, bump, bust, can.

verb

verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To expel from the bar, or the legal profession; to deprive (an attorney, barrister, or counselor) of his or her status and privileges as such. transitive
2
remove from the bar; expel from the practice of law by official action wordnet
3
To exclude (a person) from something. transitive
"The friends of Holmes have been criticising the action of the board in disbarring him on the ground that it was too severe […]"

"The friends of Holmes have been criticising the action of the board in disbarring him on the ground that it was too severe […]"

From dis- + bar.

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