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Glite Dictionary
🕵️ Secretly gone 👻 No longer present
disappearance

disappearance

141 4.0
Someone going away secretly so no one knows where they are
  • noun
  • /ˌdɪsəˈpɪərəns/
translation icon : desaparición
  • Police are still searching for clues about the disappearance of several hikers in the mountains.
  • torture and disappearances
  • killings and disappearances
  • executions and disappearances

Ghosting is the sudden and abrupt disappearance of a person from your life with little or no warning.

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Examples

  • So at this point, you believe that she is involved in the disappearance of your wife and daughter.

  • I've been hired to look into your brother's disappearance.

    Marlowe (2023)

  • The date of the girls disappearance was changed to the next day.

    The Disappearance of Jenna Matheson (2007)

  • I was a suspect in the disappearance.

    The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater (2020)

  • We are aware of your daughter's disappearance.

    The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

  • TV Announcer: Last night, we began the show with the disappearance of Michael.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • You think this has something to do with Ivan's disappearance?

    Vamps (2012)

  • Our last case of the day is the disappearance of Larry Bader.

  • Now the cops are saying that the circumstances surrounding the girl's disappearance are similar to several murder-kidnappings in Austin three years ago.

    Disturbia (2007)

  • Fortunate communities are largely untouched by the disappearances; others bear the brunt more heavily.

    Academic text (2017)

Synonyms

running away
vsdisappearance
78 3.8

Leaving home or another place without permission when you should stay

is secret and unexplained rather than openly leaving for rule-breaking
vanishing
vsdisappearance
7 6.0

A sudden disappearance of a person or thing without explanation

is secret leaving that hides someone's whereabouts rather than sudden absence
disappearing
vsdisappearance
5 4.7

Leaving a place secretly or without explaining why

is the noun form naming that secret leaving rather than the verb form
vanishment
vsdisappearance
1 9.0

A complete disappearance of someone or something so it cannot be seen

is secret leaving that results in unknown whereabouts rather than mere loss of sight
decampment
vsdisappearance
9.9

Secretly leaving a place to avoid being caught

is secret leaving without the specific sense of fleeing capture

Antonyms

appearance
408 2.6

A person or thing becoming visible in public, for example on stage

How Secret

to abscond
  • Formal
11 8.5
disappearance
141 4.0
vanishing
7 6.0
to exit stage left
  • Informal
1 7.9
departure
201 2.3

Surface Forms

disappearance singular
disappearances plural

Morphology

disappearance = disappear (semi-transparent) = dis + appear + ance

This is a standard noun formation meaning the act or state of disappearing.

Etymology

Disappearance is made of dis- 'away' and appear 'to come into view'. A helpful way to remember the second sense is to think of someone who 'moves away' and stops showing up, so their place is unknown.