dissociate

Other forms: dissociated; dissociating; dissociates

To dissociate is to break apart from someone, such as an employee leaving a business or a spouse leaving a marriage.

Dissociate is the opposite of associate. It comes from the Latin dissociare, which means basically "to disunite." To dissociate is to stop associating with someone. If a relationship ends, the two people are dissociated from one another. When you see the word dissociate, think "break-up."

Definitions of dissociate

1. verb

   break away from; stop having a relationship with
   synonyms: disaffiliate, disassociate, disjoint, disunite, divorce

   type of:

   break, break up, part, separate, split, split up

   discontinue an association or relation; go different ways
2. verb

   regard as unconnected
   “you must dissociate these two events!”

   synonyms: decouple

   antonyms:

   associate

   make a logical or causal connection

   type of:

   differentiate, distinguish, secern, secernate, separate, severalise, severalize, tell, tell apart

   mark as different
3. verb

   (psychiatry) mentally separate from reality, a physical environment, or one's own self or feelings
4. verb

   to undergo a reversible or temporary breakdown of a molecule into simpler molecules or atoms
   “acids dissociate to give hydrogen ions”

   type of:

   break down, break up, decompose, degrade

   separate (substances) into constituent elements or parts