Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To cut, tear, or pull off the limbs of.
- v. To divide into pieces.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To separate the members of; divide limb from limb; tear or cut in pieces; dilacerate.
- To strip of members or constituent parts; sever and distribute the parts of; take a part or parts from: as, to dismember a kingdom.
- To withdraw or exclude from membership, as of a society or body; declare to be no longer a member.
- Synonyms and
- To disjoint, pull a part, break up.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To remove the limbs of.
- v. transitive To cut or otherwise divide something into pieces.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To tear limb from limb; to dilacerate; to disjoin member from member; to tear or cut in pieces; to break up.
- v. obsolete To deprive of membership.
WordNet 3.0
- v. separate the limbs from the body
- v. divide into pieces
Etymologies
- Old French desmembrer, from des- ("de-") + membre ("limb") + -er ("verbal suffix") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English dismembren, from Old French desmembrer, from Vulgar Latin *dismembrāre : Latin dis-, dis- + Latin membrum, limb; see member. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I know they 'cheat' on them to make them easier to "dismember" as my kids and I used to say, but it's still aggravating when you encounter them in print.”
“Finally, Geithner's language - he wants to "dismember" failed financial firms "safely" - is interesting.”
“I won't argue with you or "dismember" you because your points are valid.”
“Ms Rice said it had been "deeply disconcerting" that Russia had tried to "dismember”
“The alternative is to kill the fetus in the uterus and then dismember it, removing it piece by piece, with each intrusion into the uterus running the risk of perforating the uterus and increasing the danger of infection.”
Simon & Schuster: The Conservative Assault on the Constitution
“His son Saif al-Islam threatened to dismember the country and plunge it into a civil war that will last for 30 or 40 years.”
The Huffington Post: Alemayehu G. Mariam: Thugtatorship: The Highest Stage of African Dictatorship
“When the dust settled in the pre-dawn darkness Saturday, the House passed a CR that is less a spending guide than a policy manifesto to gut, dismember, defund or derail protections we've relied upon for years, if not decades.”
“They don't dismember their victims, Trestrail says.”
“After Frazier died, several of the defendants tried to dismember her and then dumped her body in a dumpster behind the apartment building in the 1700 block of Trenton Place SE.”
The Washington Post: No landfill search for body of slain teen, D.C. police say
“Rosemary took great delight in torturing the young women and Fred would dismember the bodies and bury them in the backyard.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dismember’.
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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 4087 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...yearling, wild celery, Wain, Themis, talon, slither, sedge, sea eagle, scurf, rile, prevaricate, poplar tree and 732 more...
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Undo
A list of terms that denote separating one thing from another, or deconstructing a thing into its parts or to a former state. E.g., untie, divorce, unscramble.
untie, divorce, unscramble, disunite, disjoin, undo, separate, disassemble, uncouple, unhitch, disassociate, disaffiliate and 185 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1834 more...
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Words that hurt
A collection of words that inflict pain. If you liked this, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch_Money_(game)
jab, headbutt, headlock, choke, elbow, grab, kick, slap, roundhouse, spinning backfist, stomp, uppercut and 40 more...
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OED word of the Day
Just like it says
majority, plasm, apal, statin, legerdemain, leap year, daffodil, maternal, key worker, jojoba, skelf, pose and 101 more...
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New GRE Preparation List
All the words which I encounter during my GRE studies. :)
rhetoric, errant, arrant, artless, artful, ephemeral, libel, rhapsody, cloy, conjecture, relegate, aberrant and 927 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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mkuo's Words
sigh, chum, clandestine, behemoth, paramour, leviathan, dollop, wastrel, pedantic, hankering, warble, lope and 317 more...
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sfan
wan, citroen, aramaic, arabic, hebrew, mosque, oran, synagogue, anisette, almighty, blum, cremieux and 55 more...
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Action Movie in 50 Words
sequel, decorated, reunification, victory, dismember, electrocute, shark, decapitate, cavalry, peripetia, throttle, blood and 38 more...
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Favorite actions . . .
quash, ravaging, leering, spelunk, fuck, gorge, behead, dismember, mingle, trespass, revenge, baffle and 35 more...
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Divide
rupture, cleave, demarcate, dichotomize, divisive, dissolve, dismember, sever, divvy, parcel, prorate, dissent and 2 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for dismember.
dontcry Dismember is a member who no longer is a member due to ill-repute -- the member has been dissed.
Apr 30, 2008
travismcdermott 1297 R. GLOUC. (1724) 559 Most reuthe it was ido, That sir Simon the olde man demembred was so. Apr 30, 2008
uselessness It should be Frankenstein, which is totally a verb by the way. Oct 22, 2007
chained_bear No, it should be datmember.
Ahuh! Huhhuh! < -- upper-class twit laugh. Oct 22, 2007
skipvia It is, in a certain sense anyway. Remembering is the act of reassembling memories. Oct 22, 2007
seanahan Should the opposite of dismember be remember? Oct 22, 2007