Dissect

/dɪˈsɛkt/ · verb

Meaning

(literal, transitive) To study an animal's anatomy by cutting it apart; to perform a necropsy or an autopsy..

Definitions by Sense

1. (literal, transitive) To study an animal's anatomy by cutting it apart; to perform a necropsy or an autopsy.
2. (literal, transitive) To study a plant's or other organism's anatomy similarly.
3. (figurative, transitive) To analyze an idea in detail by delineating between its parts.
4. (figurative, transitive, derogatory) To decontextualize an idea, especially through overanalysis by delineating between its parts too strongly based on style, usually involving pedantry, at the expense of substance.
5. (literal, transitive, anatomy, surgery) To separate muscles, organs, etc. without cutting into them or disrupting their architecture.
6. (literal, transitive, pathology) Of an infection or foreign material, following the fascia separating muscles or other organs.

Example Sentences

She was the first person in her class to properly dissect the sheep heart.

Academics tend to take Indigenous oral histories out of their contexts and dissect them according to Western disciplinary objectives and foci (see figure 1).

By focusing excessively on dissecting the text into 'forms' and exploring their supposed evolution, form criticism overlooks the larger literary and historical context within which these forms exist.

There should be a more holistic approach both to behavior and to inner experience. Köhler (1929), in the first edition of his Gestalt psychology book, made a similar parallel. Both classical psychology and behaviorism decontextualize, and in this way, both have an unnatural tendency to dissect human mental life into meaningless atoms.

Now dissect the triceps away from its attachment on the humerus.

Synonyms for dissect

Antonyms for dissect

Related Words

Word Forms

• dissects
• dissecting
• dissected

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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