Disillusionment is the bitter loss of a belief you once held. Growing disillusionment, disillusionment with politics, a sense of disillusionment.
The word is honest about what happened: an illusion was removed, which means the belief was never true. That is why disillusionment is painful and also a kind of gain.
1noundisillusionmentThe bitter loss of a belief you once held.
“Her disillusionment with politics began when her local hero was jailed for fraud.”
disillusionment is a loss.
Dis-, undoing, plus illusion plus -ment, from Latin illudere, to mock or play upon.
Latin
illūsiō
Old French
illusion
English
illusion
English, today
disillusionment
Built from
From dis + illusion + ment. illusion comes from Old French illusion, from Latin illūsiō, from illudo, from in- (“at, upon”) + lūdere (“to play, mock, trick”). Displaced native Old English.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA