disintegrate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to separate into parts or lose intactness or solidness; break up; deteriorate.
The old book is gradually disintegrating with age.
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Physics.
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to decay.
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(of a nucleus) to change into one or more different nuclei after being bombarded by high-energy particles, as alpha particles or gamma rays.
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verb (used with object)
verb
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to break or be broken into fragments or constituent parts; shatter
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to lose or cause to lose cohesion or unity
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(intr) to lose judgment or control; deteriorate
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physics
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to induce or undergo nuclear fission, as by bombardment with fast particles
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another word for decay
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Related Words
See decay.
Other Word Forms
- disintegrable adjective
- disintegration noun
- disintegrative adjective
- disintegrator noun
- disintegratory adjective
- nondisintegrating adjective
Etymology
Origin of disintegrate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
What’s Next: If data disintegrates, however, Waller said he would vote to cut, calling the choice “close to a coin flip.”
From Barron's
But if data disintegrates, he said, he would vote in favor of a cut.
From Barron's
Almost 30,000 pieces of debris are calculated to be free-floating in space, created when rockets break up in space or satellites disintegrate.
From BBC
Pat, 64, says the village has been left to "disintegrate" and believes the role of the EU was misunderstood.
From BBC
They have changed, there's no question about that, but they have not disintegrated.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
