disintegrate

CEFRC1

/dɪsˈɪntɪɡɹeɪt/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
verb
To break into many small pieces or completely lose structure.
02
verb
Extra detail
To fall apart; to break up into parts.

Examples

A plastic bag can take up to a thousand years to disintegrate.
Comets start to disintegrate as they approach the sun.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 4
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 4

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

To undo the integrity of; to break into parts.
To cause to break up into infinitesimal parts through the use of a disintegrator.

More examples

In context

Sami's dreams began to disintegrate.
Marlites […] are not disintegrated by exposure to the atmosphere, at least in six years.
Hence they are eloquent, not of the present, disintegrating society and psyche, but of the unquenched source through which society is reborn.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

If you drop the old vase, it will blank into tiny pieces.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

Marlites […] are not disintegrated by exposure to the atmosphere, at least in six years.
1784, Richard Kirwan, Elements of Mineralogy
There is a Latvian gentleman named Theodore Nemor living at White Friars Mansions, Hampstead, who claims to have invented a machine of a most extraordinary character which is capable of disintegrating any object placed within its sphere of influence.
1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine
Hence they are eloquent, not of the present, disintegrating society and psyche, but of the unquenched source through which society is reborn.
1968, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd edition, London: Fontana Press, published 1993, page 20
But Schneider has wantonly misstaged Lucky's monologue: instead of a recitation by rote of a travestied history of Western philosophy and religion that gradually disintegrates into chaos, we get a choppy set of starts and stops, as of a jalopy that cannot get into proper gear.
1971 March 1, John Simon, “The Sorcerer and His Apprentices”, in New York Magazine, volume 4, number 9, page 58
The left outer wing structure impacted the ground first; the No. 1 engine, and then the left main landing gear, followed immediately. The aircraft disintegrated, scattering wreckage over an area approximately 1,600 feet long and 300 feet wide. No complete circumferential cross-section remained of the passenger compartment of the fuselage, which was broken into four main sections and numerous small pieces. The entire left wing and left stabilizer were demolished. No evidence of in-flight structural failure, fire, or explosion was found.
1973 June 14, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.12 Aircraft Wreckage”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Eastern Air Lines, Inc., L-1011, N310EA, Miami, Florida, December 29, 1972, archived from the original on 31 Aug 2024, page 8

Keep disintegrate

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Origin

verb

Recorded since 1785, from dis- + integrate.

Deep Dive

verb

More examples

Related

Quick test

If you drop the old vase, it will blank— into tiny pieces.

Nearby

Origin

verb

If you drop the old vase, it will blank into tiny pieces.