disabuse

present singular third person disabuses · participle present disabusing · participle past disabused · past disabused

1. transitiveTo free (someone) of a misconception or misapprehension; to unveil a falsehood held by (someone).

   I had been too profoundly disabused of life's dearest illusions ever again to allow of their sweet engrossment.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 201

   3 more examples

   If we had any hopes or illusions about the National Party before they came into office, we were disabused of them quickly.

   1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 140

   If anyone thought the auction house was about art and not commerce, they should finally be disabused of that notion by the prospect of an international tour for a photo of Posh Spice fishing, captioned: “my brother cruz was the best but i didn’t catch anything – annoying but still fun”.

   2017 June 29, Marina Hyde, “Not Brooklyn's finest: who's to blame for Beckham Jr's photo debacle?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Mr. Katzenberg is now taking his commensurate lumps, particularly because contributors feel he helped disabuse donors’ concerns about Mr. Biden’s physical state.

   2024 July 11, Theodore Schleifer, Jacob Bernstein, Reid J. Epstein, “How Biden Lost George Clooney and Hollywood”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: undeceive