disengagement

What it means

1. countableuncountableRelease or detachment from a physical situation or other involvement.

   moral disengagement

   1 more example

   “Miss Vernon,” I said, “Mr Rashleigh, has recommended me to return my thanks to you for my speedy disengagement from the ridiculous accusation of Morris;[…]”

   1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter X, in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 238–239

2. countableuncountableThe release or separation of a chemical.

   1 more example

   The Indians of the Orellanna, also, tell of horrible noises heard occasionally in the Paraguaxo, […] Others have endeavored to account for these discharges of "mountain artillery" on humbler principles; attributing them […] to the disengagement of hydrogen, produced by subterraneous beds of coal in a state of ignition.

   1836 October, Washington Irving, chapter XXVI, in Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, page 254

3. countableuncountablegovernmentWithdrawal from combat, confrontation, or the assertion of influence.

In a sentence

moral disengagement

Where it comes from

From dis- + engage + -ment.