Other forms: debunked, debunking, debunks
To debunk is to show publicly that a claim is nonsense. Debunk a myth, thoroughly debunked, debunking the theory.
Doing it can backfire: repeating a false claim in order to knock it down makes people remember the claim, so the advice now is to lead with the truth rather than the error. The word was coined in 1923 from bunk, meaning nonsense. Note that bunk itself comes from a place name.
1verbdebunkTo show publicly that a claim is nonsense.
“The scientist wrote a book debunking popular myths about diet.”
debunk is an exposing.
Coined in 1923 from de- plus bunk, nonsense, itself short for bunkum, from Buncombe County in North Carolina.
From de- + bunk. From de- + bunk (from bunkum, from Buncombe County) 1923.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA