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debunk

[dih-buhngk]

verb (used with object)

to expose or excoriate (a claim, assertion, sentiment, etc.) as being pretentious, false, or exaggerated: to debunk advertising slogans.

Origin:
1920–25, Americanism; de- + bunk²

Related forms

de·bunk·er, noun

Synonyms
disparage, ridicule, lampoon.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Debunk is one of our favorite verbs.

So is skedaddle. Does it mean:

to run away hurriedly; flee.

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

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Example Sentences

Their hope is that the same forces that propelled the first message to popularity can also be used to debunk it.

Sequences of maps can also be used to debunk misconceptions.

Anthropologists debunk another myth of evolutionary progress.

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Their hope is that the same forces that propelled the first message to popularity can also be used to debunk it.

Sequences of maps can also be used to debunk misconceptions.

Anthropologists debunk another myth of evolutionary progress.

They also debunk six myths about how to boost intelligence.

At first glance the sales figures seem to debunk the idea that video games are recession-proof.

The big lobbying firms for the drug companies must be hard at work trying to debunk a genuinely effective product.

Their position is based on myths that recent history and the new report debunk.

Conspiracy theories will always be with us because it's quicker to create them than to debunk them.

Second, some more open minded experts have set out to debunk these claims only to find they could not.

Or, they probably thought why not publish it and people can discuss and debunk it.

Just those alone debunk the global warming caused by humans myth.

It's it frequently displayed in the numerous articles that debunk it.

Just asked questions that they believe can debunk evolution.

Three groups may help debunk the myth of success as a simple product of intrinsic intellect.

Houdini went to great lengths to debunk their practices, often exposing their tricks on the stage.

Young said he is helping to debunk the idea that hiding information will keep the country safe.

According to its catalogue, its purpose is to debunk the validity of linguistic theory as a tool for interpreting art.

It's sad that someone even has to debunk these ridiculous claims.

Holzman, a specialist in the contemporary piano repertory and a congenial commentator, brought up those qualities to debunk them.

On the way, he is able to make lots of good points and debunk a host of myths.

But this has been a decade for female athletes to debunk the old saws.

It will take much more than an occasional test to debunk the myth that experts are any better at prediction than anyone else.

In thinking about these options, let's debunk two common misconceptions.

Unrue does not parade such intimate details with any evident intent to discredit or debunk.

The sample is way too small to debunk any perceptions that the public might have.

Mike and his college friends decided to set up an experiment to debunk this fellow's claim.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

debunk (diːˈbʌŋk)

—vb
	informal (tr) to expose the pretensions or falseness of, esp by ridicule

[C20: from de- + bunk²]

de'bunker

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

debunk

1923, from de- + bunk; first used by U.S. novelist William Woodward (1874-1950), the notion being "to take the bunk out of things."

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Matching Quote

"Psychiatric enlightenment has begun to debunk the superstition that to manage a machine you must become a machine, and that to raise masters of the machine you must mechanize the impulses of childhood."

-Erik H. Erikson

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