Other forms: disengaged, disengaging, disengages
To disengage is to break off contact or connection. Disengage the clutch, disengage from the conversation, forces disengaged.
Mechanically it means uncoupling: disengage the clutch, disengage the gears. Militarily it means breaking off contact with an enemy, which is a controlled withdrawal rather than a retreat. Of a person it means withdrawing attention or involvement, and disengaged is the standard word in education and employment for somebody who has stopped participating. Note disengagement.
1verbdisengageTo break off contact or connection.
“She tried to disengage herself from the conversation and slip away to the kitchen.”
2verbuncoupleTo uncouple a mechanism.
“Press the pedal to disengage the clutch before you change gear.”
disengage is a breaking off.
French désengager is dis- plus engager, from gage, a pledge. To engage was to bind yourself by a pledge, so to disengage is to release it.
Middle French
désengager
English, today
disengage
From Middle French désengager; dis + engage.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA