disconnect

From dis- +‎ connect.

• (verb) IPA^(key): /dɪskəˈnɛkt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (noun) IPA^(key): /dɪskəˈnɛkt/, /ˈdɪskənɛkt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dis‧con‧nect
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

disconnect (third-person singular simple present disconnects, present participle disconnecting, simple past and past participle disconnected)

1. (transitive) To sever or interrupt a connection.

   My wi-fi got disconnected.

   • 1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 53:

     Accordingly, Mitchell and his fireman, apparently without removing the engine from the up line, set to work and disconnected the motion on the defective side, after which Fireman Richardson, who probably had done the lion's share of the work, betook himself to the refreshment room and had a cup of coffee.

2. (transitive) To remove the connection between an appliance and an electrical power source.
3. (intransitive) Of a person, to become detached or withdrawn.

disconnect (plural disconnects)

1. A break or interruption in an existing connection, continuum, or process; disconnection.
2. A switch used to isolate a portion of an electrical circuit.
3. A lack of connection or accord; a mismatch.

   There's a disconnect between what they think is happening and what is really going on.

   • 2012 October 23, David Leonhardt, New York Times‎, retrieved 24 October 2012:

     Some of the disconnect between the economy’s problems and the solutions offered by Washington stem from the nature of the current political debate.

   • 2023 August 23, Malcolm Holmes tells Paul Stephen, “A mission to develop GCR's legacy”, in RAIL, number 990, page 39:

     "On top of this, many leading competitor attractions are hands-on, experimental, immersive, and tell a story. With a growing generational disconnect from our industrial past, is coming here for just a train ride any longer enough for people?

4. (Scientology) The deliberate severing of ties with family, friends, etc. considered antagonistic towards Scientology.

• Some object to the use of disconnect to mean “disconnection” or “a break or interruption in an existing connection, continuum, or process”, noting the lack of a corresponding sense of connect.

• (switch): disconnector

• connect