Disenlist

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Releasing a soldier or recruit from a term of military service before the enlistment period has ended
2. Discharging a person who has signed up for the armed forces so that they are no longer bound to serve
3. Freeing an enlisted member from their obligation to remain in the armed services under their contract

Etymology: "Disenlist" is a plain compound, built from the prefix "dis-", meaning reversal or undoing, and "enlist." Its meaning follows directly from its parts: to release someone from enlistment, or to remove a person from an enrolled roll. "Enlist" joins "en-", which makes a verb meaning "put into," with "list," in the sense of a roll or register of names. That sense of "list" comes through Old French "liste," from Italian "lista," a strip or border, which is a useful picture of how a roll of names was once written. To enlist someone was to put them on the list, typically for military service. Reversing that act gives the rarer "disenlist," used of soldiers and others who leave a force or are struck from its rolls.

Synonyms: discharge, demobilize

Antonyms: enlist, recruit