dis-

Use Dis- in a sentence

a Latin prefix meaning “apart,” “asunder,” “away,” “utterly,” or having a privative, negative, or reversing force ( see de-, un-². ); used freely, especially with these latter senses, as an English formative: disability; disaffirm; disbar; disbelief; discontent; dishearten; dislike; disown.

Also, di-.

Origin:
< Latin (akin to bis, Greek dís twice); before f, dif-; before some consonants, di-; often replacing obsolete des- < Old French

Dictionary.com Unabridged

variant of di-¹. before s: dissyllable.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To dis-

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Dis- is always a great word to know.

So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

dis-¹

—*prefix*
1.	indicating reversal: disconnect; disembark
2.	indicating negation, lack, or deprivation: dissimilar; distrust; disgrace
3.	indicating removal or release: disembowel; disburden
4.	expressing intensive force: dissever

[from Latin dis- apart; in some cases, via Old French des-. In compound words of Latin origin, dis- becomes dif- before f and di- before some consonants]

dis-²

—*combining form*
	variant of di- : dissyllable

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

Word Origin & History

dis-

(assimilated as dif- before -f-), prefix meaning 1. "lack of, not" (e.g. dishonest); 2. "do the opposite of" (e.g. disallow); 3. "apart, away" (e.g. discard), from O.Fr. des-, from L. dis- "apart," from PIE

*dis- "apart, asunder" (cf. O.E. te-, O.S. ti-, O.H.G. ze-, Ger. zer-). The PIE root is a secondary form of *dwis- and is thus related to L. bis "twice" (originally *dvis) and to duo, on notion of "two-ways, in twain." In classical Latin, dis- paralelled de- and had much the same meaning, but in L.L. dis- came to be the favored form and this passed into O.Fr. as des-, the form used for new compound words formed in O.Fr., where it increasingly had a privative sense ("not"). In English, many of these words eventually were altered back to dis-, while in French many have been altered back to de-. The usual confusion prevails.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

dis- pref.

Not: disjugate.
Absence of; opposite of: disorientation.
Undo; do the opposite of: dislocate.
Deprive of; remove: dismember.

Example sentences

And, a true dis-service to those that could certainly benefit from it.

Any aggression should always be dis-allowed and corrected.

Often, the whole lecturing type environment might of a dis-service to students

of today.

It's not dis-provable, which is a necessary aspect of science.

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discomfort disconsolate discord disfigure disfranchise disgrace

Matching Quote

"Disagreement produces debate but dissent produces dissension. Dissent (which come from the Latin, dis and sentire) means originally to feel apart from others. People who disagree have an argument, but people who dissent have a quarrel. People may disagree and both may count themselves in the majority. But a person who dissents is by definition in a minority. A liberal society thrives on disagreement but is killed by dissension. Disagreement is the life blood of democracy, dissension is its cancer."

-Daniel J. Boorstin

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