desaparecer

A very common verb meaning to disappear or vanish — el sol desapareció detrás de las nubes. In much of Latin America it also carries a grave historical weight: during military dictatorships, especially Argentina's (1976–1983), "desaparecer" a alguien meant to abduct and secretly kill a political dissident, leaving no trace or official record.

• Mis llaves desaparecieron misteriosamente. — My keys mysteriously disappeared.
• El avión desapareció de los radares. — The plane disappeared from radar.
• La tradición está desapareciendo poco a poco. — The tradition is gradually disappearing.

Learners sometimes use it transitively the way English allows ("the magician disappeared the rabbit") — in standard Spanish desaparecer is intransitive; you need hacer desaparecer algo for that causative sense.

• politics Los desaparecidos — The term used across Latin America, most famously in Argentina, for the tens of thousands of people abducted and killed by military dictatorships (Argentina's lasted 1976–1983) without official acknowledgment or trace — the term at the center of groups like the Madres de Plaza de Mayo's ongoing search for accountability.