Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The bodily structure of a plant or an animal or of any of its parts.
  • noun The science of the shape and structure of organisms and their parts.
  • noun A treatise on anatomic science.
  • noun Dissection of a plant or animal to study the structure, position, and interrelation of its various parts.
  • noun A skeleton.
  • noun The human body.
  • noun A detailed examination or analysis.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Dissection; the act or art of dissecting organized bodies with reference to their structure; the practice of anatomizing; anatomization.
  • noun That which is learned from dissection; the science of the bodily structure of animals and plants; the doctrines of organization derived from structure. See histology, organography, organology, morphology, zoötomy, phytotomy, anthropotomy.
  • noun Anatomical structure or organization; the formation and disposition of the parts of an organized body.
  • noun The structure of any inanimate body, as a machine; the structure of a thing, with reference to its parts.
  • noun A treatise on anatomical science or art; anatomical description or history; a manual of dissection.
  • noun Figuratively, any analysis or minute examination of the parts or properties of a thing, material, critical, or moral.
  • noun That which is dissected or results from dissection; a dissected body, part, or organ.
  • noun A subject of or for dissection; that which is or appears to be ready or fit for dissecting: in various obsolete, colloquial, or figurative uses.
  • noun Of persons, the body or any part of it; the physique, as if a mere anatomical structure.
  • noun A mummy; a corpse, dried and shriveled.
  • noun Figuratively, the withered, lifeless form of anything material or immaterial; meaningless form; shadow without substance
  • noun A comprehensive account of the anatomy of living organisms lower than man, or of any one group alone.
  • noun The examination and comparison of the structure of all animals, including man, with reference to morphology, organology, and taxonomy; anatomy in general.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The art of dissecting, or artificially separating the different parts of any organized body, to discover their situation, structure, and economy; dissection.
  • noun The science which treats of the structure of organic bodies; anatomical structure or organization.
  • noun compares the structure of different kinds and classes of animals.
  • noun A treatise or book on anatomy.
  • noun The act of dividing anything, corporeal or intellectual, for the purpose of examining its parts; analysis.
  • noun A skeleton; anything anatomized or dissected, or which has the appearance of being so.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The art of studying the different parts of any organized body, to discover their situation, structure, and economy; dissection.
  • noun The science that deals with the form and structure of organic bodies; anatomical structure or organization.
  • noun A treatise or book on anatomy.
  • noun The act of dividing anything, corporeal or intellectual, for the purpose of examining its parts; analysis; as, the anatomy of a discourse.
  • noun colloquial The form of an individual, particularly a person, used in a tongue in cheek manner, as might be a term used by a medical professional, but in a markedly a less formal context, in which a touch of irony becomes apparent.
  • noun archaic A skeleton, or dead body.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun alternative names for the body of a human being
  • noun a detailed analysis
  • noun the branch of morphology that deals with the structure of animals

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English anatomie, from Late Latin anatomia, from Greek anatomē, dissection : ana-, ana- + tomē, a cutting (from temnein, to cut; see tem- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French anatomie, from Latin anatomia, from Ancient Greek ἀνατομία, from ἀνατομή (anatome, "dissection"), from ἀνά (ana, "up") + τέμνω (temnō, "I cut, incise") (surface analysis ana- + -tomy), literally “cut up”.

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