disillusionment

Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia.

dis·il·lu·sion

(dĭs′ĭ-lo͞o′zhən)

tr.v. dis·il·lu·sioned, dis·il·lu·sion·ing, dis·il·lu·sions

To free or deprive of illusion.

1. The act of disenchanting.

2. The condition or fact of being disenchanted.

dis′il·lu′sion·ment n.

dis′il·lu′sive (-sĭv, -zĭv) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Disillusionment

burst [someone’s] bubble To disabuse; to open someone’s eyes; to shatter someone’s illusions; also pop or break [someone’s] bubble and to prick or put a pin in [someone’s] balloon. This expression refers to the fragile nature of both soap bubbles and human illusions.

cut the ground from under See RUINATION.

everything tastes of porridge An expression used to inject a note of reality into our daydreams. The point is that no matter how grandiose our schemes or how successful our self-delusions, the taste of porridge or the reality of our domestic affairs will always be there to impinge on our fantasies. Porridge, formerly a staple in every household, is a most appropriate symbol of the practical, basic nature of home life.

pull the rug out from under See RUINATION.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

disillusionment - freeing from false belief or illusions

disenchantment, disillusion

edification, sophistication - uplifting enlightenment

disillusionment

noun disenchantment, disappointment, disillusion, enlightenment, rude awakening, lost innocence There is a general sense of disillusionment with the government.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

تَحَرُّر من الأوْهام

deziluzerozčarování

desillusioneringskuffelse

Ernüchterung

déception désabusement

kiábrándultság

vonsvik, svipting tálvona

disillusione

desillusjonering

rozčarovanie

düş/hayal kırıklığı

幻灭

disillusionment

[ˌdɪsɪˈluːʒənmənt] N → desilusión f; (more intense) → desencanto m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

disillusionment

[ˌdɪsɪˈluːʒ^ənmənt] n → désillusion f
disillusionment with sth/sb → désillusion envers qch/qn

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

disillusionment

n → Desillusionierung f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

disillusionment

[ˌdɪsɪˈluːʒ/ənmənt] n → disillusione f, disinganno

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

disillusion

(disiˈluːʒən) verb

to destroy the false but pleasant beliefs (held by a person). I hate to disillusion you, but your boss isn't the perfect person you think she is.

disilˈlusionment noun

References in classic literature ?

The strange thing is that each one who has gone through that bitter disillusionment adds to it in his turn, unconsciously, by the power within him which is stronger than himself.

View in context

"Or if not," she continued, pursuing her own thought with a painful application, "if it's not worth while to have given up, to have missed things, so that others may be saved from disillusionment and misery--then everything I came home for, everything that made my other life seem by contrast so bare and so poor because no one there took account of them--all these things are a sham or a dream--"

View in context

Prince Andrew looked at the laughing Speranski with astonishment, regret, and disillusionment. It seemed to him that this was not Speranski but someone else.

View in context

In such cases they have succeeded only by going through a process of savage disillusionment. But with Dede and Daylight it was different.

View in context

Then came his disillusionment, and this disillusionment he described in terms that did not flatter his audience.

View in context

And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment.

View in context

His disillusionment with Mary, whom he had thought of angelic purity, and his sense of injury, were so strong that they brought him to despair, and the despair led him--to what?

View in context

Since the time of his disillusionment, Jurgis had sworn to trust no man, except in his own family; but here he discovered that he had brothers in affliction, and allies.

View in context

Evidently this daughter of the Cavaliers met a rude disillusionment in Milton's Puritan household and in his Old Testament theory of woman's inferiority and of a wife's duty of strict subjection to her husband; a few weeks after the marriage she fled to her family and refused to return.

View in context

Such a fearful disillusionment, such a blasting of life-long hopes and aspirations, such an uprooting of age-old tradition might have excused a vastly greater demonstration on the part of the Thark.

View in context

He sat himself down, in spite of the chilly fog which obscured the farther bank and left its lights suspended upon a blank surface, upon one of the riverside seats, and let the tide of disillusionment sweep through him.

View in context

I saw the thing done once and I've never believed in it since." And he proceeded to tell the story of his disillusionment.