disappear

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To stop being visible; to go out of sight.

   The plane disappeared into the clouds.

2. 2
   verb

   To go away and not be found, often suddenly.

   My keys have disappeared and I can't find them anywhere.

3. 3
   verb

   To stop existing; to fade away gradually.

   Many small shops have disappeared from the high street.

Simplified etymology

Disappear was formed in the late Middle Ages from the negative prefix dis- and appear, which came through French from Latin adparere, from ad, “to,” and parere, “come into sight.” In the late 20th century English acquired a transitive use in which a person is “disappeared”: abducted or arrested for political reasons and secretly killed or detained without public knowledge. This construction came from Latin America, especially Argentina, as a translation involving American Spanish desaparecido, used of people who disappeared under military rule in the 1970s.

From Middle English disapeeren, equivalent to dis- + appear. Displaced native Old English fordwīnan. Displaced native Old English cwincan, whose causative persists as quench (“put out (fire)”).

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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