disintegrate
/dɪsˈɪntɪɡɹeɪt/ verb
Forms disintegrates disintegrating disintegrated
- verb (transitive) To undo the integrity of; to break into parts.
- verb (science fiction, transitive) To cause to break up into infinitesimal parts through the use of a disintegrator.
- verb (intransitive) To fall apart; to break up into parts.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
Recorded since 1785, from dis- + integrate.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To separate into integrant parts; to reduce to fragments or to powder; to break up, or cause to fall to pieces, as a rock, by blows of a hammer, frost, rain, and other mechanical or atmospheric influences.
- verb To decompose into integrant parts; as, chalk rapidly disintegrates.
Etymology [L. dis- + integratus, p. p. of integrare to renew, repair, fr. integer entire, whole. See Integer.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “disintegrate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details