Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. Into separate parts or pieces: broken asunder.
- adv. Apart from each other either in position or in direction: The curtains had been drawn asunder.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In or into a position apart; apart or separate, either in position or in direction: said of two or more things: as, wide as the poles asunder.
- In or into a divided state; into separate parts; in pieces: as, to tear, rend, break, burst, or cut asunder.
- Separately; apart.
Wiktionary
- adv. Into separate parts or pieces; apart
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. Apart; separate from each other; into parts; in two; separately; into or in different pieces or places.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. widely separated especially in space
- adv. into parts or pieces
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old English on sundran : on, on; see on + sundran, separately (from sunder, apart).
Examples
“Being there helped me realise that I was kinda rent asunder from the happy nest I had there.”
“Where was solid water beneath it, is now air, and for the first time it feels the grip of gravity, and down it falls, at the same time being torn asunder from the lagging bottom of the wave and flung forward.”
“Where was solid water beneath it is now air, and for the first time it feels the grip of gravity, and down it falls, at the same time being torn asunder from the lagging bottom of the wave and being flung forward.”
“It is the destruction of the Al Qaeda network and terrorist organizations with global reach, and, in the case of Afghanistan, the taking asunder -- that, sir, maybe that, asunder, that is not quite as good as eviscerate -- but it has to do with taking down this illegitimate government of the Taliban that provides harbor to Al Qaeda.”
“Full many a shield and helmet/was there 'neath sword asunder rent.”
The Nibelungenlied Translated into Rhymed English Verse in the Metre of the Original
“Many of the white people in those provinces take little or no care of negro marriages; and when negroes marry after their own way, some make so little account of those marriages that with views of outward interest they often part men from their wives by selling them far asunder, which is common when estates are sold by executors at vendue.”
“For we must clearly see that a division in the Church on this old controverted subject would be like sawing a living man asunder; for it would be tearing the living body of Christ asunder, that is, if the”
“To wear chains is a mere jest, but when you bind a man with a skein of thread, a mere gossamer, in fact, and then tell him he must not break it asunder, that is cruelty indeed!”
“Or, as we read it, shall cut him asunder, that is, part body and soul, send the body to the grave to be a prey for worms, and the soul to hell to be a prey for devils, and there is the sinner cut asunder.”
“You know when you use "asunder," something serious is a-going on!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘asunder’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Words
phantasmagoria, eviscerate, avast, simulacrum, varicose, oblique, gestalt, ersatz, vernal, vivace, stellate, synecdoche and 314 more...
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When a door is ajar
Words with the prefix "a"
ajar, asleep, akin, ablaze, afoot, abed, aground, aback, afloat, alive, abaft, abloom and 91 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( etymology )
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 837 more...
rohitzoom2050 usually used with word torn
torn asunder Jan 25, 2011
seanahan For B5, a series with a number of poetic episode titles, "And All My Dreams, Torn Asunder" is one of the best. Oct 21, 2007