disagree

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪsəˈɡɹiː/ (UK); /dɪsəˈɡɹi/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English disagreen, borrowed from Middle French désagréer,^[2][3][4] from des-, not (see dis-), and agréer, to please, receive with favour (see agree).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

1473–74 in Barnhart;^[2] to differ, not correspond, 1494, and to refuse assent, 1495, in the OED.^[5]

Semantic evolution

To be at variance, to quarrel, is from 1548,^[5] and to differ in opinion from 1559 (the 1550s).^[5][3] Of food or climate, to have bad effects on someone, it is from 1563.^[5] NODE notes the early sense, to refuse to agree to.^[6] The noun disagree, disagreement, is a rare 16th-century word.^[5] Disagreeable is older, from before 1400 in Chaucer.^[2]

Timeline

• 1473–74 – the verb.^[2]
• 1494 – to differ.^[5]
• 1548 – to quarrel.^[5]
• 1559 – to differ in opinion.^[5]
• 1563 – of food.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To have a different opinion.
2. To fail to correspond; to conflict.
3. To quarrel or dispute.
4. Of food or climate, to cause bad effects: curry disagrees with me.

Word family

• disagreeable
• disagreement

Related words

• agree
• agreement

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press