uninstall

Formsuninstalls, uninstalling, uninstalled

Pluraluninstalls

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To completely remove software or hardware from a computer system.

   You can uninstall the program from the control panel in a few clicks.

   The technician uninstalled the faulty driver before adding a new one.

   Similarremove

   Oppositeinstall

   Note

   The un- here reverses an action, as it does in undo or unpack. So un- plus install means undoing an installation, not simply being without one. Technically it is more thorough than deleting. It clears out the associated files, registry entries and drivers that came in with the program, not just its main executable. A half-removed program has been deleted, not uninstalled.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   The process of removing software or hardware from a computer system.

   The uninstall failed halfway through and left broken files behind.

   Run a full uninstall before reinstalling the latest version.

   Similarremoval, uninstallation

   Oppositeinstallation, install

   Note

   The verb becomes a noun here with no change of spelling, and it is countable: one uninstall, several uninstalls. It can name the routine that does the removing, which is why an uninstall can fail or be corrupt. Ben-Natan, Gornitsky and Hanis's Mastering IBM WebSphere Portal (2004) then calls for a manual uninstall. Uninstallation is the longer, more formal name for the same thing.

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