disestablishment
noun/dɪs.ɪsˈtæblɪʃ.mənt/
Etymology By surface analysis, dis- + establishment or dis- + establish + -ment.
1
The downgrading or dissolution of something that had been established.
2
Specifically, the removal of state privileges or patronage from a given church; the removal of a policy of having an official governing religion.
- Disestablishment of the church would deprive the gentry of another property right – the right of presentation to a living, a right for which they or their ancestors had paid hard cash and which gave them useful opportunities of providing for a younger son or a poor relation.1972, Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down, Folio Society, published 2016, page 77:
- As evangelicals defect in one direction and traditionalists in the other, and disestablishment beckons with the reform of the House of Lords […].2009 October 21, Ruth Gledhill, The Times:
- Derived terms
- antidisestablishment, antidisestablishmentarian, disestablishmentarian
- Related terms
- disestablish