Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To become reduced to components, fragments, or particles. synonym: decay.
- intransitive verb To lose cohesion or unity.
- intransitive verb Physics & Chemistry To decompose, decay, or undergo a nuclear transformation.
- intransitive verb To cause to disintegrate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To separate into component parts; reduce to fragments; break up or destroy the cohesion of: as, Tocks are disintegrated by frost and rain.
- To break up; separate into its component parts.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To decompose into integrant parts.
- transitive verb To separate into integrant parts; to reduce to fragments or to powder; to break up, or cause to fall to pieces, as a rock, by blows of a hammer, frost, rain, and other mechanical or atmospheric influences.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To undo the
integrity of,break into parts. - verb intransitive To
fall apart , break up into one's parts.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb lose a stored charge, magnetic flux, or current
- verb break into parts or components or lose cohesion or unity
- verb cause to undergo fission or lose particles
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He created the Cabinet positions of Energy and Education, yet saw his one term disintegrate due to lack of experience.
Blogger News Network 2008
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The best way to cause a country to disintegrate is to create unrest in all spheres and in Pakistan's case this has already happened, violence in the name of religion, sect, province and class along with an aid dependent economy and power and food shortages.
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The point being, it's firmly established that the Iraqi army didn't just "disintegrate," but rather was disbanded by the US.
09/17/2007 2007
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And no political party should let itself sort of just kind of disintegrate into petty bickering and small-minded politics.
Remarks By The President At Dscc Event In New York ITY National Archives 1998
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Commonwealth would "disintegrate" if it attempts to sanction
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California, would fall almost without resistance, that San Francisco must surrender in a fortnight to a Japanese investment, that in three or four months the war would be over, and our republic, unable to regain what it had heedlessly neglected to protect sufficiently, would then "disintegrate," until perhaps some Caesar should arise to weld us again into a nation.
Memories and Studies William James 1876
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Eurozone may 'disintegrate' after crisis, Paul Volcker warns
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Bloomberg: Volcker says the debt crisis may cause Europe to "disintegrate"
24/7 Wall St. 2010
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A damning report by the Psychiatric Nurses 'Association has claimed the service is being allowed to "disintegrate" with no regard for quality of care or safety.
IrishExaminer.com 2010
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Upper class advocacy groups using identity politics claim that a federal republic will "disintegrate" Nepal, missing the way enfranchisement brings a genuine patriotism that can't be faked, or glossed over by rulers speaking in the name of all.
Kasama Mike E 2010
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