dissect

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   cut open or cut apart

   dissect the bodies for analysis

2. 2
   verb

   To study an animal's anatomy by cutting it apart; to perform a necropsy or an autopsy.

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

3. 3
   verb

   To decontextualize an idea through overanalysis by delineating between its parts too strongly based on style, usually involving pedantry, at the expense of substance.

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

4. 4
   verb

   To separate muscles, organs, etc. without cutting into them or disrupting their architecture.

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

5. 5
   verb

   make a mathematical, chemical, or grammatical analysis of

6. 6
   verb

   To study a plant's or other organism's anatomy similarly.

7. 7
   verb

   To analyze an idea in detail by delineating between its parts.

8. 8
   verb

   Of an infection or foreign material, following the fascia separating muscles or other organs.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dissectus past participle of dissecare (“to cut asunder, cut up”), from dis- (“asunder”) + secare (“to cut”); see section.