Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To cut apart or separate (tissue), especially for anatomical study.
- v. To examine, analyze, or criticize in minute detail: dissected the plan afterward to learn why it had failed. See Synonyms at analyze.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To cut in pieces; divide into parts with or as with a cutting instrument: as, to dissect a fowl. Specifically
- 2. To cut in pieces, or separate the distinct or elementary parts of, as an animal or a plant, for the purpose of studying its organization or the functions and morbid affections of its organs and tissues; anatomize.
- To examine part by part or point by point; treat or consider piecemeal; analyze, as for the purpose of criticism; describe in detail: as, to dissect a man's character.
- In geology, to cut up or erode (a plateau, mountain, etc.) into numerous irregular valleys or ravines: as, a dissected plateau; a dissected mountain-range.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To study an animal's anatomy by cutting it apart; to perform a necropsy or an autopsy.
- v. transitive To study a plant or other organism's anatomy similarly.
- v. transitive To analyze an idea in detail by separating it into its parts.
- v. transitive, anatomy, surgery To separate muscles, organs, and so on without cutting into them or disrupting their architecture.
- v. transitive, pathology Of an infection or foreign material, following the fascia separating muscles or other organs.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. (Anat.) To divide into separate parts; to cut in pieces; to separate and expose the parts of, as an animal or a plant, for examination and to show their structure and relations; to anatomize.
- v. To analyze, for the purposes of science or criticism; to divide and examine minutely.
WordNet 3.0
- v. cut open or cut apart
- v. make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical analysis of; break down into components or essential features
Etymologies
- From Latin dissecare ("to cut asunder, cut up"), from dis- ("asunder") + secare ("to cut"); see section. (Wiktionary)
- Latin dissecāre, dissect-, to cut apart : dis-, dis- + secāre, to cut up; see sek- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Those titles dissect companies that exhibit an attribute -- long-term financial success, say -- and then describe the behaviors they use to achieve that result.”
“More to the point, readers who reject all approaches to fiction that go beyond its potential to entertain or provide pleasure are not thereby safeguarding the purity of reading, nor are readers who attempt to in one way or another to "dissect" works of fiction violating that purity.”
“But I can say with confidence that political strategists who cannot either construct or "dissect" the emotional structure of an ad like this present a far greater danger to the Democratic Party and its values than all President Bush's appointees to the federal bench.”
“And here to help us kind of dissect this in really a long history of scaring you to the polls and making you vote for a certain candidate.”
“It's another thing for it to be broadcast, where panels like this one can assemble and on a daily basis kind of dissect everything that's been done.”
“To understand a lot of the legalese that we heard taking place over the last several minutes, we have our legal analyst Roger Cossack to kind of dissect it and explain to us what was taking place.”
“In fact the more we "dissect" Life itself thus separate and categorize it with such tenacity, do we find ourselves falling further and further away from the Truth of Life - God if you will. en Español”
“In the elementary classroom of Sandy Stevens and Linda Amis students decided to 'dissect' a high school project question to see if they had a clear understanding of its meaning.”
“N.J. Democrats push ahead with hearing to 'dissect' Race to the Top error”
“What I want to do is kind of dissect sales from redemptions and management has been talking about better RFP activity now for about three quarters.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dissect’.
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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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My List
frugal, vicissitude, scatter, fiduciary, calf, mesmerize, eke, unkempt, callousness, heist, fumble, flinty and 31 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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-sect, -section
of cutting or dividing
bisect, vivisection, section, dissect, secant, intersection, sect
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Latin Spelling Bee List
need to know these words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
inane, ambivalent, incriminate, interrupt, amicable, meticulous, animosity, curriculum, electoral, transect, condolences, bugle and 132 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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From Book - SAT & College Dictionary ...
ebb, exotic, immure, abeyance, panegyric, debonair, protege, dissipate, frantic, penitent, abject, edify and 871 more...
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Spelling Bee list 2011
Abalone, ablution, absolution, aboriginally, abstemious, academician, acclamation, accommodation, acculturation, acetic, acetone, acme and 590 more...
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List 17
Derivatives from Chapter 17 of Part One of English Words from Latin and Greek Elements
minuscule, exquisite, transection, incorrigible, refraction, requisition, commodious, progeny, revenue, compassionate, acidulous, canticle and 8 more...
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To Cut
Verbs meaning cut
section, incise, sever, incide, bisect, trisect, defalcate, dissect, discind, scind, fragment
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"Look" Verbs
glance, gaze, peek, peep, peer, scan, view, glimpse, gander, watch, snoop, eye and 34 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for dissect.
qroqqa BrE speakers strongly prefer a diphthong /daɪ-/ in the initial syllable to /dɪ-/ (89% in a 2007 survey for the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary). Aug 4, 2008