dissect
Pronunciation: /dɪˈsɛkt/
The English word “dissect” has 6 meanings listed here.
verb
- To study an animal's anatomy by cutting it apart; to perform a necropsy or an autopsy.
- To study a plant's or other organism's anatomy similarly.
- To analyze an idea in detail by delineating between its parts.
- 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.
- To separate muscles, organs, etc. without cutting into them or disrupting their architecture.
- 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.
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.