dishabituate

D2I1S1H4A1B3I1T1U1A1T1E1
UK/dɪsəˈbɪtʃueɪt/

verb

To respond (to a stimulus) with dishabituation.

OriginEnglish habituate ← Middle English habituate ← Latin habituō, habituātus →
Scrabble 18
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Meanings

verbdishabituate (third-person singular simple present dishabituates, present participle dishabituating, simple past and past participle dishabituated)

present singular third person dishabituates · participle present dishabituating · participle past dishabituated · past dishabituated

  1. intransitiveTo respond (to a stimulus) with dishabituation.

    Separate experiments show that infants habituated to repeated occurrences of one object will dishabituate to the presentation of a new object (Xu and Carey 1996, p. 136).

    2008 January 8, John E. Sarnecki, “Sortals for Dummies”, in Erkenntnis, volume 69, number 2, →DOI
  2. To reach a state of dishabituation.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  2. Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
  3. Proto-Indo-European*d(w)is-
  4. Proto-Italic*dis-
  5. Latindis-
  6. Old Frenchdes-
  7. Latindis-
  8. Middle Englishdis-
  9. Englishdis-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*gʰeh₁bʰ-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*gʰh₁bʰéh₁yeti
  12. Proto-Italic*haβēō
  13. Latinhabeō
  14. Latinhabitus
  15. Latinhabituō, habituātus
  16. Middle Englishhabituate
  17. Englishhabituate
  18. Englishdishabituate

From dis- or habituate.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

dishabituate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dishabituate

MLA

“dishabituate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dishabituate. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dishabituate,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dishabituate.

Source: dishabituate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.