unlearn

From Middle English unlernen. By surface analysis, un- +‎ learn.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈləːn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈlɝn/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n

unlearn (third-person singular simple present unlearns, present participle unlearning, simple past and past participle unlearned or unlearnt)

1. (transitive) To discard the knowledge of.
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 80:

     It was another lesson from Fort Hare that I had to unlearn in Johannesburg.

   • 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 231:

     It is a language that, once learnt, I have been unable to unlearn.

2. (transitive) To break a habit.

• deprogramming

• annuler