Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
dissociate, disassociate (vv.)
Both mean “to cut ties with or break off relationships with,” but dissociate is much more frequently used and has a greater variety of meanings, such as “to separate,” “to cause to dissociate,” and the idiomatic to dissociate oneself from, which means “to deny that one has any connection or affiliation with or interest in”: He had long since dissociated himself from the supply-side economists.
