Disconnect means to break or end a connection between things. When you disconnect your phone charger, you unplug it from the wall. When a company disconnects your internet service, they stop providing it to your home.

The word works both literally and figuratively. You can physically disconnect a cable or hose, separating two things that were joined together. But you can also feel a disconnect with someone when you no longer understand each other or feel close. Maybe you and your best friend from elementary school now have completely different interests. That growing apart creates a disconnect between you.

Sometimes people talk about feeling disconnected from reality when they're exhausted or overwhelmed, like everything seems fuzzy or far away. A teacher might notice a disconnect between what she taught and what her students actually learned, meaning there's a gap between the two.

As a noun, a disconnect describes that gap or separation itself: “There's a disconnect between what he says and what he does” means his words and actions don't match. Whether it's unplugging a device or noticing that two things don't align the way they should, disconnect captures that moment when something that was connected becomes separate.