asunder
UK /əˈsʌndə/ · US /əˈsʌndəɹ/ adverb, adjective, verb
Forms asunders asundering asundered asundre insunder
- adverb Apart or separate from each other.
- adverb Moving apart from each other.
- adverb (also figurative) Into separate parts or pieces, often due to some violent action. “to crack asunder torn asunder”
- adverb Apart from other people; individually, separately; specifically, in private, privately.
- adverb Chiefly in the form to know asunder: in a manner distinguishable from other similar things.
- adjective (obsolete) Different, unlike.
- verb (transitive, archaic or literary) To set apart (one or more people or things) from other people or things; to put asunder, to separate, to sunder.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English asunder, asonder (“apart in position, distant; apart in movement; to pieces; alone, separately; distinct in kind, different”), asondri (“distinct, separate”), onsunder, onsondre (“apart, asunder; alone, separately; especially, particularly (?)”), from Old English onsundrum, on sundur (“asunder, apart, privately”), probably from on- (prefix meaning ‘on, upon’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- (“on, onto”)) + sundor, sunder (“alone, apart; separately; privately”) (from Proto-West Germanic *sundr, from Proto-Germanic *sundraz (“alone, separate”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *senH- (“apart; for oneself; without”)). By surface analysis, a- (prefix meaning ‘at; in; on’ denoting a condition, manner, or state) + sunder (“(obsolete except dialectal) different; separate”).
* Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍂𐍉 (sundrō)
* Norwegian Bokmål sunder, sønder
From Middle English asondren (“to alienate; to separate; to depart; to part company; to disappear”), from Old English asundran, āsundrian (“to disjoin; to separate; to sunder, put asunder; to sever”) (possibly influenced by onsundrum (adverb): see etymology 1), from ā- (prefix meaning ‘away; from’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *úd (“away; out”)) + sundrian (“to separate, sunder”) (from Proto-Germanic *sundrōną (“to separate, sunder”), from *sundraz (“alone, separate”) (see further at etymology 1) + *-ōną (suffix forming factitive verbs from adjectives)).
Webster’s 1913
- adverb Apart; separate from each other; into parts; in two; separately; into or in different pieces or places.
Etymology [Pref. a- + sunder.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “asunder”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details