debunk

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 16, 2025 is: debunk \dee-BUNK\ verb To debunk something (such as a belief or theory) is to show that it is not true. // The influencer remained enormously popular despite having the bulk of their health claims thoroughly debunked. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/debunk) Examples: “Conspiracy theorists (and those of us who argue with them have the scars to show for it) often maintain that the ones debunking the conspiracies are allied with the conspirators.” — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2025 Did you know? To debunk something is to take the bunk out of it—that [bunk](https://bit.ly/45yopDL) being nonsense. (Bunk is short for the synonymous [bunkum](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bunkum), which has [political origins](https://bit.ly/46Swaqn).) Debunk has been in use since at least the 1920s, and it contrasts with synonyms like [disprove](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disprove) and [rebut](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebut) by suggesting that something is not merely untrue but is also a sham—a trick meant to deceive. One can simply disprove a myth, but if it is debunked, the implication is that the myth was a grossly exaggerated or foolish claim.