Disestablish
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To deprive (an established church, military squadron, operations base, etc.) of its official status.
"Ah, but the virtue of public education, it is said, is that it is secular and non-denominational. Don't count on it. Massachusetts, the last state to disestablish religion (1832), didn't until July of 1978 decide that it was unconstitutional for the public school system to subsidize religious schools through so-called textbook loans."
- 2 deprive (an established church) of its status wordnet
- 3 To abolish (an existing position of employment).
Example
More examples"Ah, but the virtue of public education, it is said, is that it is secular and non-denominational. Don't count on it. Massachusetts, the last state to disestablish religion (1832), didn't until July of 1978 decide that it was unconstitutional for the public school system to subsidize religious schools through so-called textbook loans."
Etymology
From dis- + establish.
Related phrases
More for "disestablish"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.