disappeared
/ˌdɪs.əˈpɪəd/ (bre, ipa) · [dˌɪsəpˈɪrd] /ˌdɪs.əˈpɪrd/ (ame, ipa) · [dˌɪsəpˈird] /ˌdis-ə-ˈpir How to pronounce disappear (audio)/ (ame, mw)
disappeared — noun
1. people whom a state or armed group has secretly taken away, killed, or put in pr
people whom a state or armed group has secretly taken away, killed, or put in prison for political reasons, and whose families are given no information about what happened to them
The mothers of the disappeared gathered in the capital to demand answers.
the disappeared — always used with 'the'
Elena searches for her father among the three thousand disappeared buried in unmarked graves outside Santiago.
A stone memorial in Córdoba was built to honour the disappeared of the civil war.
Thandi spent forty years searching for her brother among the disappeared.
Santiago’s national archive holds photographs and names of the disappeared from the Pinochet years.
- the missing
broader term; covers anyone unaccounted for, not only political victims
用法筆記
Always plural and almost always used with the definite article 'the': 'the disappeared.' The term became widely known through Latin American human rights movements of the 1970s and 1980s.
disappeared — verb
- disappearedpresent simple I / you / we / they
- disappeareds3rd person singular
- disappeareding-ing form
- disappearededpast simple
1. to go out of sight so that you can no longer see the person or thing
to go out of sight so that you can no longer see the person or thing
Mei's cat disappeared under the sofa when the doorbell rang.
intransitive: disappear + under + location
The aeroplane disappeared into the clouds above the airport.
intransitive: disappear + into + location
Dimitri watched the small boat disappear over the horizon.
Grandmother’s full jar of biscuits disappeared from the kitchen cupboard while she was out.
Fatima looked up and found the bird had disappeared from the branch.
- vanish
suggests a sudden, complete, and often mysterious disappearance
- fade
describes a slow, gradual loss of visibility rather than a quick exit
- go missing
used mainly for people or objects unexpectedly not where they should be
- emerge
to come out from behind or inside something
文法句型
disappear + into/under/behind/from + noun
2. to stop existing; to be lost, gone, or no longer felt — used about feelings, cus
to stop existing; to be lost, gone, or no longer felt — used about feelings, customs, species, and things that fade out of the world over time
Kwame’s fear of the dark disappeared after his eighth birthday sleepover.
disappear + as-clause for gradual change
Yuki’s village lantern festival disappeared after the young families all moved away.
The pain in Lakshmi's knee disappeared after a week of rest.
Those small family-run shops are slowly disappearing from our streets.
All hope of finding the two climbers alive on Mount Kenya had disappeared by dawn.
文法句型
disappear + gradually/completely/forever
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1 (PASS FROM VIEW): this sense describes things that end or fade over time — feelings, customs, species, opportunities — rather than physical objects moving out of sight.
常見錯誤
3. to make a person or thing go away or become impossible to find, often by acting
to make a person or thing go away or become impossible to find, often by acting deliberately or using magic
The magician disappeared a borrowed watch right in front of us.
transitive: disappear + object (thing made to vanish)
Javier disappeared the evidence before the police could search the flat.
The accountants at Orion Shipping disappeared the missing millions from the quarterly report.
A single wrong click disappeared every family photo from Tala's computer.
The waiter disappeared our empty plates while we were still talking.
- remove
more neutral; does not carry the suggestion of secrecy or magic
- spirit away
emphasises swift, secret removal of a person or thing
- make vanish
similar meaning but more wordy; 'disappear' is the concise transitive form
文法句型
disappear + object (person or thing)
用法筆記
This is the transitive counterpart of senses 1 and 2. The subject actively makes the object disappear. Often implies a deliberate or suspicious removal rather than an accident.
常見錯誤
4. to secretly take a person away, often killing or locking them up for political r
to secretly take a person away, often killing or locking them up for political reasons, while refusing to say what happened to them
Argentina’s military junta disappeared thousands of political opponents during the Dirty War of the 1970s.
transitive: disappear + person (political abduction)
Human rights groups say the police disappeared journalist Miriam Haddad in Cairo last month.
Armed men in plain clothes disappeared three activists from the village square.
The regime disappeared Svetlana’s husband from their flat in January and refused to give any information.
Witnesses said soldiers disappeared Olu and several students after the campus protest.
- abduct
broader term for any forceful taking of a person; lacks the political and secrecy dimension
- secretly detain
stresses the imprisonment aspect without necessarily implying killing
- make someone disappear
a less formal way to express the same idea
文法句型
be disappeared (by + state agent)
用法筆記
Object is always a person or group of people. The subject is almost always a state agent — police, military, or government. This sense is the active verb form behind the noun 'the disappeared' (see noun entry). Frequently used in the passive: 'he was disappeared by the secret police.'