Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *de
Proto-Indo-European *-h₁
Proto-Indo-European *déh₁
Proto-Italic *dē
Latin dē
Latin dē-der.
English de-
English bunkumclip.
English bunk
English debunk
From de- (“away”) + bunk (“nonsense”) (from bunkum, from Buncombe County) 1923.
Meanings
(informal) A debunking; the act by which something is debunked.
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *de
Proto-Indo-European *-h₁
Proto-Indo-European *déh₁
Proto-Italic *dē
Latin dē
Latin dē-der.
English de-
English bunkumclip.
English bunk
English debunk
From de- (“away”) + bunk (“nonsense”) (from bunkum, from Buncombe County) 1923.
Meanings
(transitive) To discredit, or expose to ridicule the falsehood or the exaggerated claims of something; to refute.
We began to debunk, with the aid of such Bowdlerisations of Freud as now trickled though, human motive, and learned to diagnose our mental discomforts as repressions and inhibitions—an accomplishment which gave me a good deal of relief. 1955, Phyllis Bentley, “Post-war”, in Noble in Reason, Bath: Cedric Chivers Ltd, published 1972, →ISBN, page 159:
I am reading Nick Sousanis’ PhD dissertation-as-a-comic Unflattening. It debunks the primacy of word over image in Western culture and suggests that the two are equal partners in meaning-making. 2016 December 25, Amruta Patil, “The book in my hand”, in The Hindu:
Another of my favourite themes has been debunking promises of new technology. Over the years, I have enjoyed watching the lack of progress on driverless cars, drone deliveries, hyperloop, and maglev. 2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 61:
This is what I mean by saying that the pseudoskeptics aren't actually skeptics in a genuine sense; they're believers in some other system, out to attack and debunk what they don't believe in while trying to appear open minded and scientific, even though they're not. 2009, Charles T. Tart, The End of Materialism, page 67:
The explosion story was thoroughly debunked on National Public Radio in November 1999.
For many of the Capitol rioters and others who believe Mr. Trump won, it was not a large leap to “Stop the Steal” from a pathway of conspiratorial steppingstones that included the “Pizzagate” claim of 2016 that Democrats were running a child sex ring in the back of a popular Washington pizza parlor, the debunked allegation that a low-level Democratic National Committee aide was murdered for leaking Hillary Clinton’s emails and many more. 2021 January 27, Elizabeth Williamson, “Rioters Followed a Long Conspiratorial Road to the Capitol”, in The New York Times:
cs vyvrátit (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · fr jeter l'opprobre sur (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · mk разобличува (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · hu lerombol (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · de bloßlegen (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · pt desacreditar (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es desengañar (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · fi kumota (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · cs znevěrohodnit (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · ko 폭로하다 (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · de diskreditieren (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · nb diskreditere (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · ru развенчивать (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es hacer añicos (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · nl ontmaskeren (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · it ridicolizzare (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es desmentir (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · ru разоблачать (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · de demaskieren (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · cs zdiskreditovat (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es desdecir (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · hu megsemmisít (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · bg изобличавам измама (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · ko 밝히다 (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · mi whakanano (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · it screditare (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · el αποδόμηση (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es desacreditar (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · hu eloszlat (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · de entlarven (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es desprestigiar (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · hu leleplez (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · it demistificare (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · cs rozkrýt (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · fi romuttaa (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es destrozar (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · it sbufalare (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · da skyde ned (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · cs prokázat chybnost (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · mk разоткрива (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es ridiculizar (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · uk розвінча́ти (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · pl obalić (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · gl desacreditar (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · nl doorprikken (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · de entschleiern (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · fi paljastaa (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · hy մերկացնել (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · fr réduire à néant (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · bg развенчавам (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · fr mettre en pièces (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · hu szertefoszlat (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · uk розві́нчувати (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · fr dévoiler (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · cmn 揭穿 (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · cs odhalit podstatu (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · fr se déconsidérer (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · da afsløre (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es hacer trizas (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es despedazar (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · ar فَنَّدَ (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · es desbaratar (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · it sbugiardare (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something) · fr se discréditer (to discredit or expose the falsehood of something)