Definition

1. Verb:
   • To expel a lawyer from the legal profession, officially revoking their license to practice law, typically as a disciplinary action for unethical or illegal conduct.

Usage and Examples

• Verb:
  • The state bar association voted to disbar the attorney for misappropriating client funds.
  • If a lawyer commits perjury, they risk being disbarred.
  • After the investigation, the disciplinary committee decided to disbar him permanently.

Advanced Usage

• "to be disbarred from": To be officially expelled from the practice of law in a specific jurisdiction.
  • She was disbarred from practicing in New York after her conviction.
• The term is almost exclusively used in a legal and professional disciplinary context. The action is formal and carried out by an official body like a bar association or a court.

Variants and Related Words

• Disbarment (n): The act of disbarring or the state of having been disbarred.
  • The disbarment of the famous lawyer was front-page news.

Synonyms

• Expel (from the bar)
• Strike off (the roll of lawyers) - Common in British English.
• Defrock - Used informally by analogy to clergy, though "disbar" is the precise legal term.

Antonyms

• Admit to the bar: To grant a lawyer a license to practice.
• Reinstate: To restore a disbarred lawyer to good standing (possible in some cases after a period).

Notes on Meaning

• Disbar refers specifically to lawyers. The analogous action for other professions uses different verbs (e.g., a doctor is "struck off" the medical register or has their license "revoked").
• It implies a permanent or long-term removal, though reinstatement is sometimes possible after many years under strict conditions.

Verb

1. remove from the bar; expel from the practice of law by official action
   • The corrupt lawyer was disbarred