Definitions

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

  • noun Decomposition into fragments or parts; disintegration.
  • noun Indulgence in sensual pleasures; debauchery.
  • noun Termination or extinction by disintegration or dispersion.
  • noun Extinction of life; death.
  • noun Annulment or termination of a formal or legal bond or relationship.
  • noun Formal dismissal of an assembly or legislature.
  • noun Reduction to a liquid form; liquefaction.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of dissolving, or changing from a solid to a liquid state; the state of undergoing liquefaction.
  • noun The substance formed by dissolving a body in a menstruum; a solution.
  • noun Separation into parts, especially into elementary or minute parts; disintegration; decomposition or resolution of natural structure, as of animal or vegetable substances. Specifically
  • noun Death; the separation of soul and body.
  • noun Separation of the parts which compose a connected system or body: as, the dissolution of nature; the dissolution of government.
  • noun The process of retrogression or degeneration: opposed to evolution.
  • noun The breaking up of an assembly or association of any kind, or the bringing of its existence to an end: as, a dissolution of Parliament, or of a partnership; the dissolution of the English monasteries under Henry VIII.
  • noun The act of relaxing or weakening; enervation; looseness or laxity, as of manners; dissipation; dissoluteness.
  • noun The determination of the requisites of a mathematical problem.
  • noun Synonyms and Termination, destruction, ruin.
  • noun Recess, prorogation, etc. See adjournment.

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

  • noun The act of dissolving, sundering, or separating into component parts; separation.
  • noun Change from a solid to a fluid state; solution by heat or moisture; liquefaction; melting.
  • noun Change of form by chemical agency; decomposition; resolution.
  • noun The dispersion of an assembly by terminating its sessions; the breaking up of a partnership.
  • noun The extinction of life in the human body; separation of the soul from the body; death.
  • noun The state of being dissolved, or of undergoing liquefaction.
  • noun The new product formed by dissolving a body; a solution.
  • noun Destruction of anything by the separation of its parts; ruin.
  • noun Obs. or R. Corruption of morals; dissipation; dissoluteness.

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

  • noun The termination of an organized body or legislative assembly, especially a formal dismissal.
  • noun Disintegration, or decomposition into fragments.
  • noun Dissolving, or going into solution.

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

  • noun the process of going into solution
  • noun the termination of a meeting
  • noun dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure
  • noun the termination or disintegration of a relationship (between persons or nations)
  • noun separation into component parts

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin dissolutio ("a dissolving, destroying, breaking up, dissolution")

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Examples

  • While full dissolution is unlikely at this point I can see the Baltic States not making their final qualifications needed to adopt the Euro and I could see someone like Greece, Spain or Portugal reverting to their old domestic currencies.

    Archive 2009-12-27 Canadian silver bug/Green Assassin Brigade 2009

  • They call the dissolution of century-old towns, which residents have strong emotional ties to, a pipe dream.

    Wall Street Sense for Main Street Shelly Banjo 2011

  • The momentary fascination with the reality TV train wreck Jon & Kate Plus 8″ has me wondering if the sad saga of family striving and dissolution is beneficial as a morality tale.

    Shambhala SunSpace » Karen Maezen Miller – The Laundry Line 2009

  • While full dissolution is unlikely at this point I can see the Baltic States not making their final qualifications needed to adopt the Euro and I could see someone like Greece, Spain or Portugal reverting to their old domestic currencies.

    2010 Predictions from the Canadian Silver Bug Canadian silver bug/Green Assassin Brigade 2010

  • Its dissolution is even more important for us than that of Syria.

    When A Map Is Worth a Thousand Words « Antiwar.com Blog 2008

  • Sadly its own dissolution is not amongst them, but one may at least applaud Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora as imaginative.

    Moose on the Loose (2) 2007

  • I use the word dissolution because it has several meanings and in this case both apply.

    The Dissolution 2009

  • Sadly its own dissolution is not amongst them, but one may at least applaud Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora as imaginative.

    Archive 2007-12-02 2007

  • At the same time, if the threat of dilution or dissolution is not seen as an issue by others, they might not consider their cultural forms as exclusive at all.

    Cultural Appropriation Hal Duncan 2006

  • Because the bone, weakened, approaching the stage of dissolution, is no longer able to cast off the mineral deposits thrust in upon it by the natural functions of the body.

    THE REJUVENATION OF MAJOR RATHBONE 1993

  • According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, anywhere from one percent to 5 percent of the more than 100,000 adoptions in the U.S. each year are legally terminated in what’s called a “dissolution” — making the Stauffers’ decision to relinquish custody rare but not unheard of.

    Why Did These YouTubers Give Away Their Son? Caitlin Moscatello 2020

  • According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, anywhere from one percent to 5 percent of the more than 100,000 adoptions in the U.S. each year are legally terminated in what’s called a “dissolution” — making the Stauffers’ decision to relinquish custody rare but not unheard of.

    Why Did These YouTubers Give Away Their Son? Caitlin Moscatello 2024

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