Disillusion

noun, verb

noun, verb ·4 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act or process of disenchanting or freeing from a false belief or illusion. countable, usually
  2. 2
    freeing from false belief or illusions wordnet
  3. 3
    The state of being freed from a constructed or imposed illusion; the recognition of an underlying truth previously obscured by a false or controlled narrative. uncountable, usually

    "Disillusion is not disappointment; it is the breaking of the spell—the moment the veil falls and truth becomes inescapable."

Verb
  1. 1
    To free or deprive of illusion; to disenchant. transitive

    "To disillusion a man is not to break him, but to open his eyes to the machinery behind the curtain."

  2. 2
    free from enchantment wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
disenchantdisenchantmentdisillusionmentdisillusionmentawakenawakening

Example

More examples

"Disillusion can become itself an illusion if we rest in it."

Etymology

From dis- + illusion: literally, the removal or undoing of illusion.

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