disaccustom
Definition
Verb: - To cause someone to lose a habit or accustomed practice: "disaccustom" means to make someone no longer accustomed to something, typically by removing the stimulus or opportunity for that habit.
Usage Examples
- (To break the habit of nail-biting.)
- (To lose the habit of late-night eating.)
- (To help the child stop the habit of using a pacifier.)
Advanced Usage
- "to disaccustom someone from something": the standard prepositional pattern.
- The trainer disaccustomed the horse from its nervous jigging. (The trainer broke the horse's habit of jigging.)
Variants and Related Words
Disaccustomed (adj): no longer accustomed to something.
- After a month without coffee, she felt disaccustomed to its taste. (She was no longer used to the taste of coffee.)
Disaccustoming (n/adj): the process of breaking a habit.
- The disaccustoming of the child from thumb-sucking took several weeks. (The process of breaking the habit.)
Synonyms
- Wean: to gradually detach someone from a habit.
- Break: to end a habit, often abruptly.
- Unaccustom: to make someone no longer used to something (rare).
Antonyms
- Accustom: to make someone used to something.
- Habituate: to make something a habit.
Phrasal Verbs
- None directly; the verb "disaccustom" is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions.
Related Idioms
- Break the habit: to stop a habitual behavior.
- She finally broke the habit of smoking. (She stopped the habit.)
- Kick the habit: to give up a habit, especially an addiction.
- He kicked the habit of biting his nails. (He stopped the habit.)