Meanings
present singular third person disbands · participle present disbanding · participle past disbanded · past disbanded
- ambitransitiveTo break up or (cause to) cease to exist; to disperse.
The president wanted to disband the scandal-plagued agency.
3 more examples
I used to be in a punk band, but we disbanded in the early 1980s.
Having taken a review of his Army at Ardachan, he disbanded his Army, and he himself continu'd his Journey to Erzirum
1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLCThe British Transport Commission, which was disbanded under the 1962 Transport Act that created the British Railways Board, had been established by Clement Attlee's Labour government at nationalisation 14 years earlier.
2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 53 - obsoletetransitiveTo loose the bands of; to set free.
- obsoletetransitiveTo divorce.
And therefore […] she ought to be disbanded.
1643, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce: […], London: […] T[homas] P[aine] and M[atthew] S[immons] […], →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰendʰ-“to tie”
- Middle Frenchdesbander
- Englishdisband
Attested since the 1590s, from Middle French desbander (Modern French débander), from des- (English dis-) + bande (English band), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie”). By surface analysis, dis- + band.
More words from Middle French, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic حَلَّ, سَرَّحَ
- حَلَّ (ḥalla)to break up or cause to cease to exist
- سَرَّحَ (sarraḥa)to break up or cause to cease to exist
Bulgarian разпуска́м, разформировам
- разпуска́м (razpuskám)to break up or cause to cease to exist
- разформировам (razformirovam)to break up or cause to cease to exist
Chinese Mandarin 解散
- 解散 (jiěsàn)to break up or cause to cease to exist
Czech rozpustit
- rozpustitto break up or cause to cease to exist
Danish afskaffe, nedlægge
- afskaffeto break up or cause to cease to exist
- nedlæggeto break up or cause to cease to exist
Dutch ontbinden
- ontbindento break up or cause to cease to exist
Finnish lakkauttaa
- lakkauttaato break up or cause to cease to exist
French démanteler, décommissionner
- démantelerto break up or cause to cease to exist
- décommissionnerto break up or cause to cease to exist
- dissoudreto break up or cause to cease to exist
German auflösen
- auflösento break up or cause to cease to exist
Hungarian feloszlat
- feloszlatto break up or cause to cease to exist
Irish scaoil
- scaoilto break up or cause to cease to exist
Japanese 解散する
- 解散する (kaisan suru)to break up or cause to cease to exist
Norwegian avskaffe
- avskaffeto break up or cause to cease to exist
Persian منحل کردن
- منحل کردن (monhal kardan)to break up or cause to cease to exist
Polish rozwiązywać, rozwiązać
- rozwiązywaćto break up or cause to cease to exist
- rozwiązaćto break up or cause to cease to exist
Portuguese dispersar, debandar
- dispersarto break up or cause to cease to exist
- debandarto break up or cause to cease to exist
Russian распуска́ть, распусти́ть
- распуска́ть (raspuskátʹ)to break up or cause to cease to exist
- распусти́ть (raspustítʹ)to break up or cause to cease to exist
- расформиро́вывать (rasformiróvyvatʹ)to break up or cause to cease to exist
- расформирова́ть (rasformirovátʹ)to break up or cause to cease to exist
Spanish desmantelar, disolver
- desmantelarto break up or cause to cease to exist
- disolverto break up or cause to cease to exist
- desbandarto break up or cause to cease to exist
Swedish upplösa
- upplösato break up or cause to cease to exist
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with disband
Cite this entry
disband. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disband
“disband.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disband. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “disband,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/disband.
Source: disband on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.