Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To expose or ridicule the falseness, sham, or exaggerated claims of.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
discredit , orexpose toridicule thefalsehood or theexaggerated claims of something
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb expose while ridiculing; especially of pretentious or false claims and ideas
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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And in the 20th century, we shortened that to bunk, and in the 1920s, someone came up with the term debunk as an antidote to bunk.
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A more thorough debunk is available here, but one point bears mentioning.
Wonk Room » What Do Private Insurers Do With Your Money? 2009
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The inference of the word debunk implies that it is something dishonest that needs to be corrected.
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‘More obscurely, and more defiant against attempts to debunk, is the case of Ninel Kulagina.
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Regarding our recent discussion on suburbs and cities, here’s an interesting article from Joel Kotkin debunking many of the “creative cities” ideas that have been so popular in the wake of Richard Florida.
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The words meditation and mindfulness have become interchangeable in recent years, with the latter adopted as a term to debunk the myths around meditation.
WalesOnline - Home 2011
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It's so tragically stupid. on 02 / 26 / 2009, -0 / +4Don't think you can find a so called debunk of America: "Freedom to Fascism" no google and think thats research this is not refuting any thing
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You never heard the late Walter Cronkite taking time on the evening news to "debunk" claims that a proposed mental health clinic in Alaska is actually a dumping ground for right-wing critics of the president's program, or giving the people who made those claims time to explain themselves on the air.
Sunday Reading 2009
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That is why those of us who feel that the Myth is already dead for us must not make the mistake of trying to 'debunk' it in the wrong way.
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In that sense, Newsweek was in the vanguard of what would become a trend of the American news media, to ignore or "debunk" investigations of major national security crimes rather than seriously investigate them.
yarb commented on the word debunk
To get out of bed.
I like the peg-legged sound - debunk, debunk, debunk.
March 25, 2011
bilby commented on the word debunk
I used to love my morning debunk
When my leg hit the floor - kerplunk!
But one day it went squish
On a poor startled fish -
'Cos my rickety junk had sunk!
March 25, 2011
ruzuzu commented on the word debunk
Brackets around "rickety junk," please.
Also see badunkadunk.
March 25, 2011
bilby commented on the word debunk
rickety junk.
Happy boating.
March 25, 2011
ruzuzu commented on the word debunk
Yar!
March 25, 2011