disintegrate
Americanverb (used without object)
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disintegrates,
present (3rd person singular)
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disintegrated,
past participle, past
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disintegrating
present participle
-
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)
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disintegrates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disintegrated,
past participle, past
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disintegrating
present participle
verb
-
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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Synonym Usage
See decay.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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disintegrationnoun
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disintegratornoun
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disintegrableadjective
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disintegrativeadjective
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disintegratoryadjective
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nondisintegratingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disintegratesimple
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disintegratessimple
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have disintegratedperfect
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has disintegratedperfect
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am disintegratingprogressive
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are disintegratingprogressive
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is disintegratingprogressive
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have been disintegratingperfect progressive
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has been disintegratingperfect progressive
Past
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disintegratedsimple
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had disintegratedperfect
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was disintegratingprogressive
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were disintegratingprogressive
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had been disintegratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disintegrate
Explanation
Soak your tooth in a cup of soda for long enough and it will disintegrate, or break apart from decay. The word disintegrate comes from a combination of the prefix dis- meaning "do the opposite of" and the Latin integrare meaning "to make whole." When something disintegrates, it does the opposite of become whole; it falls apart. Objects can either disintegrate over time — like a tooth soaking in a cup of soda, or instantaneously — like a building disintegrating into dust from an explosion.
Vocabulary lists containing disintegrate
The Lightning Thief
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Fahrenheit 451
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Farewell to Manzanar
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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.
See Examples For:
The Swift space telescope, which studies the most powerful explosions in the universe, will now likely plunge back to earth and disintegrate along the way later this year.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
When a brooding Pitt admits he’s had trouble with “family stuff,” the writer lets the sentiment disintegrate.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
“Only last month U.S. authorities said that it was illegal for countries to charge tolls on international waterways, so this threat may disintegrate when it hits reality,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Now, with those entry-level jobs disappearing, there’s danger that “the pathways that provide mobility disintegrate and you lose the American promise of opportunity,” Muro said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
Late in the day on the north face of the Thumb, I felt the glue disintegrate with a swing of an ice ax.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
However, the US Geological Survey then clarified that the disaster was caused by a "glacial collapse", which is when a glacier or part of a glacier disintegrates.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
But if data disintegrates, he said, he would vote in favor of a cut.
From Barron's ● Feb. 23, 2026
He adds that if we sacrifice that commitment for A.I., “you’d get to a point pretty fast where it just disintegrates and becomes the ugliest definition of the word product.”
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2024
This produces a copy of the existing RNA strand before it disintegrates through the addition of water.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 22, 2024
When you kill a monster in Final Fantasy, it makes a sound like a groan and disintegrates into sand.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
Every robot that faceplanted, lost a limb, or disintegrated in a spray of sparks was borne away on a stretcher by human attendants with deadpan solicitude.
From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026
After a 2025 season in which their offensive line disintegrated before their eyes, the Chargers had every reason to believe this would be a bounce-back year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
The US Geological Survey says the floods in the Nepal-Tibet border were triggered by a "glacial collapse" - meaning a glacier or part of a glacier had disintegrated.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Given how fragile it was, it may simply have disintegrated on the shelf and been overlooked or thrown away.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
The giants disintegrated in twin columns of flame—a sure sign they were monsters, all right.
From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan
At some point disintegrating cohesion produces costs—social, economic and political—that undermine the benefits of the inequality and erode support for the system itself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
That changed in April 2023 when unknowing construction workers unceremoniously removed a disintegrating Pinky from its eyrie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
The theater vanished into the green wormhole, disintegrating into a snow globe with the theater inside.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
Columbia was unable to withstand the fiery re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, disintegrating as the world watched on in horror.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2025
Frank dropped his disintegrating bow and ran for the porch.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
