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correct usage of the word "dislodge" and context of use

English Language & Usage Asked on July 3, 2021

When someone accidentally stepped on a charging cable and the charger gets unplugged from the socket. Can you say "you dislodged the charger from the socket?"

If this is not the correct usage of the word "dislodge", please could you elaborate in what contexts should dislodge be used and in what it should not be?

Thank you!

One Answer

Technically, you could say "you dislodged the charger from the socket", it would not be incorrect, but you probably wouldn't say this. Let me explain.

The original definition of the word "lodge" refers to temporary quarters: you find "lodging" while you are traveling (somewhere to stay in the meantime). You don't generally use the word "lodging" to refer to your home, it is somewhere you stay that is not your home.

From this original definition comes a derived use of the word, where you would describe an object as being "lodged" somewhere. The object has been placed in a position where it stays, but was not it's original place. Because of this implication of it not being the "home" or original place for the thing that is "lodged", this use of the word has developed an association with something being unnaturally stuck somewhere it does not belong. So if a wrench is "lodged" in the wheel of a machine, it is not just lying inside the wheel: it is firmly fixed inside the wheel, probably not easy to remove, and potentially causing problems by being there.

"Dislodge" means to remove something that is lodged. So generally it would be used to describe removing something that is stuck in a position it should not be. Hence, to say you "dislodged" the charger from the socket implies the charger was somehow stuck in the socket or otherwise misplaced, as opposed to merely being plugged in where and how it ought to be.

(If someone trips on the charging cord and the charger comes unplugged from the wall, a more appropriate term might be something like "yanked", which means to "to pull on something with a quick vigorous movement". So you could say "You yanked the charger out of the socket!")

Answered by MarielS on July 3, 2021

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