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Words with the prefix dis-

dis- means “not; apart; away”, from Latin.

15 examples of the prefix dis-

  1. disagreedis- + agreenot agree with someone
  2. dislikedis- + likenot like something
  3. disconnectdis- + connecttake apart a connection
  4. dishonestdis- + honestnot honest or truthful
  5. disorderdis- + orderabsence of order or arrangement
  6. disappeardis- + appeargo away from sight
  7. disrespectdis- + respectnot show respect toward
  8. discomfortdis- + comfortabsence of comfort or ease
  9. displacedis- + placemove away from original place
  10. disqualifydis- + qualifytake away qualifying status
  11. disprovedis- + proveprove something is not true
  12. dismantledis- + mantletake apart piece by piece
  13. dispersedis- + perse (Latin: spread)scatter apart in all directions
  14. dissonancedis- + sonance (sound)notes sounding apart, discordant
  15. dissidentdis- + sident (Latin: sit)one sitting apart from authority

How dis- works

The prefix 'dis-' attaches to verbs, adjectives, and nouns without changing its spelling (unlike 'in-'), consistently negating or reversing the base word's meaning. It can shift a verb to a negated verb (connect → disconnect), an adjective to its opposite (honest → dishonest), or a noun to its absence (order → disorder).

Watch out: Words like 'dish,' 'disk,' 'display,' and 'distance' look like they begin with 'dis-' but the 'dis-' in these is part of the root itself, not the negating prefix.

To see prefixes combine with other parts, try the word dissector and root builder, or test yourself in the vocabulary quiz.

Other common prefixes

Questions people ask

What does the prefix dis- mean?

dis- means “not; apart; away”. It comes from Latin. The prefix 'dis-' attaches to verbs, adjectives, and nouns without changing its spelling (unlike 'in-'), consistently negating or reversing the base word's meaning. It can shift a verb to a negated verb (connect → disconnect), an adjective to its opposite (honest → dishonest), or a noun to its absence (order → disorder).

What are some examples of words with the prefix dis-?

disagree, dislike, disconnect, dishonest, disorder, disappear, disrespect, discomfort. The full list of 15 examples, with what each one literally means, is above.

Which words look like they have the prefix dis- but don’t?

Words like 'dish,' 'disk,' 'display,' and 'distance' look like they begin with 'dis-' but the 'dis-' in these is part of the root itself, not the negating prefix.

What is a prefix?

A prefix is a word part added to the front of a base word or root to change its meaning, like un- in unhappy or re- in rewrite. It does not usually change the part of speech.