debunking

verb (used with object)

1. to expose or excoriate (a claim, assertion, sentiment, etc.) as being pretentious, false, or exaggerated: to debunk advertising slogans.

verb

1. (tr) informal to expose the pretensions or falseness of, esp by ridicule

v.

1923, from de- + bunk (n.2); first used by U.S. novelist William Woodward (1874-1950), the notion being “to take the bunk out of things.” Related: Debunked; debunking.