Word of the Day

: November 15, 2008

disabuse

verb diss-uh-BYOOZ

What It Means

: to free from error, fallacy, or misconception

disabuse in Context

After several months of hard work, Adam was thoroughly disabused of any notion that starting his own business would be an easy endeavor.

Did You Know?

We know the verb "abuse" as a word meaning "to misuse," "to mistreat," or "to revile." But when "disabuse" first appeared in the early 17th century, there was a sense of "abuse," now obsolete, that meant "to deceive." Sir Francis Bacon used that sense, for example, when he wrote in 1605, "You are much abused if you think your virtue can withstand the King's power." The prefix "dis-" has the sense of undoing the effect of a verb, so it's not surprising that "disabuse" means "to undeceive." English speakers didn't come up with the idea of joining "dis-" to "abuse" all on their own, however. It was the French who first appended their prefix “dés-” to their verb “abuser.” English "disabuse" is modeled after French “désabuser.”