debunk

Definition

To discredit, or expose to ridicule the falsehood or the exaggerated claims of something.

Etymology

From de- (“away”) + bunk (“nonsense”) (from bunkum, from Buncombe County) 1923.

Example Sentences

• "The explosion story was thoroughly debunked on National Public Radio in November 1999."
• "debunk a theory"
• "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."