disembark
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to go ashore from a ship.
-
to leave an aircraft or other vehicle.
verb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- disembarkation noun
- disembarkment noun
Etymology
Origin of disembark
1575–85; < Middle French desembarquer, equivalent to des- dis- 1 + embarquer to embark
Explanation
Use the verb disembark to describe leaving a ship, airplane or other type of vehicle, like making sure you haven't left anything in the plane's overhead compartment before you disembark. Embark means "putting passengers in a plane or on a boat." Disembark is its opposite. When you disembark, you leave a ship or a plane, like when you can't wait to disembark at the port in order to go sight-seeing. When you disembark, there is a transition — you walk down a gangplank to go from water to land or down a special corridor to get from the runway to the airport terminal — unlike when you get out of a car. That's why you wouldn't use disembark for getting out of a car.
Vocabulary lists containing disembark
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On Uniworld cruises to Provence, people disembark to a family-owned truffle farm.
From Salon • Mar. 14, 2026
Once they realize at the end of the flight that they have to wait for assistance to disembark, the healing begins.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025
The queer friends aboard in 1992, including painter Lorenzo and his partner Juan B., know that they’re never going to disembark.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2025
Lina, a German student who did not give her second name, said she had been hoping to travel to Barcelona on Monday but was told she had to disembark her train in Paris.
From Barron's • Oct. 27, 2025
From Schulpforta they ride a train through Leipzig and disembark at a switching station west of Lodz.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
