disappeared

[ dis-uh-peerd ]

adjective

1. having vanished from sight or existence:

   Right this minute, the only thing I want to do is to find a way to recover my disappeared phone photos.

   The museum displays tools and artifacts from an almost disappeared culture, known only from one archaeological site.

2. (of a person) having vanished under suspicious or unknown circumstances:

   Family members of the disappeared persons were denied the right to any effective remedy, including the right to know the fate of their loved ones.

noun

, (used with a plural verb)

1. none the disappeared. people, especially political opponents, who have vanished under suspicious or unknown circumstances, or without due process of law:

   The determination of the parents, grandparents, and—most recently—children of the disappeared is finally putting dictators, torturers, and their accomplices behind bars.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of disappear ( def ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of disappeared¹

First recorded in 1400–50 as a verb: disappear ( def ) + -ed ¹( def ), and in 1640–50 as an adjective: disappear ( def ) + -ed ²( def )

Example Sentences

“They’re real people with real stories, survivors who bear the weight of crime long after the headlines disappeared. … For every statistic, there are lived experiences, people whose lives have been upended, whose sense of safety has been shattered.”

From Los Angeles Times

In April 2019, a community hashtag for the popular gay keyword “les” disappeared from Weibo, an X-like microblogging platform.

From Los Angeles Times

The lights of Century City flicked on in the distance, and the expansive view of the Pacific Ocean disappeared from sight.

From Los Angeles Times

Kyiv said that day it had managed to shoot down 62 drones, and that a further 67 were “lost” - meaning they were either downed by electronic warfare, or disappeared from radar screens.

From BBC

Three months after it was set up, having taken thousands of pound in ticket orders, it disappeared.

From BBC

Related Words

• absent
• adrift
• disoriented
• hidden
• invisible
• misplaced
• vanished