disintegration

[dis-in-tuh-grey-shuhn]

noun

1. the act or process of disintegrating.

2. Physics.,  radioactive decay.

Other Word Forms

• nondisintegration noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of disintegration¹

First recorded in 1790–1800; disintegrate + -ion

Example Sentences

In the messages, the officer painted a picture of Hamas's internal disintegration and the near-total collapse of security across Gaza, which the group governed before the conflict.

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Jones warned that even just stoking concerns that “there’s cells or there’s people on the inside” wishing to do us harm could be justification enough for more disintegration of rights.

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But to me, there’s forces of disintegration and integration at all times.

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The thing that made Sunday stunning was the complete disintegration of a team we thought had more about them.

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Nonetheless, the American case is distinctive, and its special character worth examining, if we’re to understand the kind of imperial disintegration that might take place over the next fifty years.

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Related Words

• dissolution 
• fragmentation