disillusion

noun

dis·il·lu·sion | \ ˌdis-ə-ˈlü-zhən

Definition of disillusion

(Entry 1 of 2)

: the condition of being disenchanted : the condition of being dissatisfied or defeated in expectation or hope suffered romantic disillusions

disillusion

verb

disillusioned; disillusioning\ -ˈlü-zhə-niŋ

Definition of disillusion (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

: to free from illusion also : to cause to lose naive faith and trust The job disillusioned her about working in retail.

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Examples of disillusion in a Sentence

Verb

Working at that store for six months was enough to disillusion me about retail work. we were disillusioned when we saw how the movie star acted in real life

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Laconic disillusion was a hallmark of the era, but Dubus’s stories tend to be crowded and argumentative. — Sam Sacks, WSJ, "Fiction Books: A Sinner at Home in a Fallen World," 18 Oct. 2018 Britain is caught in a dangerous cycle of disillusion and anger. — The Economist, "People without degrees are the most under-represented minority," 10 May 2018 Registers of loss and disillusion are blended, from the individual to the national and back again. — Dustin Illingworth, latimes.com, "Elusive leaps of grace and daring: Rachel Cusk's 'Kudos'," 31 May 2018 For some who supported Mr. Navalny, the outcome was a stark disillusion. — Neil Macfarquhar, New York Times, "Putin Wins Russia Election, and Broad Mandate for Fourth Term," 18 Mar. 2018 Anyways, enough about Ayr United. MacLeod's monumental confidence was now being thrust upon the international scene, with the Scotland national team the, um, lucky beneficiaries of his disillusion. — SI.com, "World Cup Countdown: 10 Weeks to Go - The Scotland Side That Promised World Domination...," 13 Apr. 2018 Reasons for disillusion include the slow pace of reconstruction and the lack of jobs. — The Economist, "Fifteen years after America’s invasion, Iraq is getting back on its feet," 28 Mar. 2018 Lorenzo Totaro and Alessandra Migliaccio have been to the historic Tuscan strongholds of the Italian left with photographer Geraldine Hope Ghelli to learn about the disillusion among the traditional supporters of Renzi’s PD. — Gregory Viscusi, Bloomberg.com, "Five Star’s Italian Rivals Pounce as Pay Pledge Backfires," 14 Feb. 2018 Darkness at Noon, published in 1940, is the lasting monument to his disillusion with Communism. — Douglas Murray, National Review, "The Russian Revolution, 100 Years On: Its Enduring Allure and Menace," 30 Oct. 2017

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

The experience disillusioned me about ASU and led me to take a faculty position elsewhere. — Valerie Strauss, Washington Post, "Professor: A disturbing story about the influence of the Koch network in higher education," 22 Apr. 2018 There was a missed opportunity to offer an alternative to this culture of consumerism, of capitalism, that a lot of us were already disillusioned with, and the church was doing the exact same thing. — Tara Isabella Burton, Vox, "How Christianity can be an “alternative” to consumerism," 9 Oct. 2018 Instagram has been positioned as a fast-growing and successful alternative to Facebook for teenage users and those disillusioned by Facebook’s privacy violations and its larger impact on digital life. — Nick Statt, The Verge, "Instagram’s co-founders have reportedly resigned from Facebook," 25 Sep. 2018 Listen, there's a lot of reasons to be disillusioned. — Celeste Katz, Glamour, "Rashida Jones Isn’t Afraid to Poke Fun at Herself, as Long as It Gets Voters to the Polls," 17 July 2018 Another important factor is the accumulated, often disillusioning, experience of five Afghan elections and the preparations for a sixth. — Ehsanullah Amiri, WSJ, "Afghanistan’s Elections Shrink in Face of Violence," 18 Oct. 2018 As Poole, Simpson once again plays a convincing disillusioned do-gooder whose Boy Scout determination to make things right is at odds with the corrupt world around him. — Lorraine Ali, latimes.com, "'Unsolved' and 'Atlanta' dive into rap's golden age and beyond," 2 Mar. 2018 Princess Tsianina’s own story, in fact, was the inspiration for the opera, in which the heroine, disillusioned by urban life and caught in a romantic triangle, returns to the values of her tribal society. — Mark Swed, latimes.com, "Before ‘Hamilton,’ 100 years of American music theater and how it’s told the story of who we are," 29 June 2018 The result has left many Sanders supporters disillusioned, feeling that the group that was supposed to harness the senator's grass-roots movement is failing in its mission. — James Hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Hillary Clinton warns of ‘a full-fledged crisis in our democracy’ at Yale," 21 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'disillusion.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

12 Dec 2018

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The first known use of disillusion was in 1591

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More Definitions for disillusion

disillusion

verb

English Language Learners Definition of disillusion

: to cause (someone) to stop believing that something is good, valuable, true, etc.

See the full definition for disillusion in the English Language Learners Dictionary

disillusion

verb

dis·il·lu·sion | \ ˌdis-ə-ˈlü-zhən

disillusioned; disillusioning

Kids Definition of disillusion

: to cause to stop having a mistaken belief that something is good, valuable, or true Let me disillusion you about the myth of George Washington's wooden teeth.