disabuse

(dĭs'ə-byūz')
tr.v., -bused, -bus·ing, -bus·es.
To free from a falsehood or misconception: I must disabuse you of your feelings of grandeur.

[French désabuser : dés-, dis- + abuser, to delude (from Old French, to misuse; see abuse).]

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Connoisseurs of the pseudo-polite putdown will appreciate this one, by a senior Republican US senator to a junior Democratic one:

"Based on past Obama statements, 'I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable,' McCain wrote in a letter to Obama on Monday. 'Thank you for disabusing me of such notions.'"

Link: Senate War Of Words

Posted February 8, 2006.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

v.t.

To present your neighbor with another and better error than the one which he has deemed it advantageous to embrace.

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For a list of words related to disabused, see:

• Demanding, Critical, Calculating, or Selfish

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Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - rive ud af, desillusionere, befri

Nederlands (Dutch)
van verkeerd idee afhelpen, uit de droom helpen, rechtzetten

Français (French)
v. tr. - détromper, désenchanter de

Deutsch (German)
v. - eines Besseren belehren

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - βγάζω από πλάνη, ανοίγω τα μάτια (κάποιου)

Italiano (Italian)
disingannare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - desenganar, desiludir

Русский (Russian)
выводить из заблуждения

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - desengañar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - ta ngn ur en villfarelse

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
解惑, 使省悟, 释疑

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 解惑, 使省悟, 釋疑

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - (환상에서) 깨어 나게 하다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 迷いを解く

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يحرر شخص من أفكار زائفه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮שחרר מרעיונות מוטעים, פקח עיניים‬

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