1. The act or process of dislocating or the state of having been dislocated: "the severe emotional dislocation experienced by millions of immigrants . . . who were forced to separate themselves forever from the . . . circle of people and places on which they had depended" (Doris Kearns Goodwin).
2. Displacement of a body part, especially the temporary displacement of a bone from its normal position.
3. Chemistry. An imperfection in the crystal structure of a metal or other solid resulting from an absence of an atom or atoms in one or more layers of a crystal.
4. Geology. See displacement (sense 5).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.