anatomize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to cut apart (an animal or plant) to show or examine the position, structure, and relation of the parts; display the anatomy of; dissect.
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to examine in great detail; analyze minutely.
The couple anatomized their new neighbor.
verb
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to dissect (an animal or plant)
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to examine in minute detail
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of anatomize
1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French anatomiser or < Medieval Latin anatomizāre. See anatomy, -ize
Vocabulary lists containing anatomize
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:
With the pandemic-set parent-child drama “The Falls,” the prolific director pulls back from the novelistic scope of its predecessor to anatomize the evolution of an estranged bond made whole again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2022
They anatomize sunspots by way of US astronomer George Ellery Hale, who pioneered their observation with his 1889 invention of the spectroheliograph.
From Nature ● Jul. 18, 2017
This is big-picture theater, which takes a long view down the corridors of power to anatomize the psyches of the men and women who determine the fate of nations.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2016
Dirda’s style, likewise, is seductively transparent while being devilishly difficult to anatomize or duplicate.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 4, 2015
I would have one begin with the last point: I understand sufficiently what death and voluptuousnesse are: let not a man busie himselfe to anatomize them.
From Literary and Philosophical Essays: French, German and Italian by Various
Though sartorial elegance is an instinct, as Mr. Cerruti suggested, it can be anatomized.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2022
British novelist John le Carré, who anatomized Cold War spycraft and sometimes even influenced it, has died after a short illness at the age of 89.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2020
Mills’s wife, Miranda July, a writer and filmmaker with the steely fragility of a Buster Keaton, once anatomized guys like Mills in a short story.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 1, 2017
Her guitar tone is produced warmly, which makes one feel comforted even if they’re being emotionally anatomized.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 9, 2015
We want not to see water anatomized; the Alps may be tomahawked and scalped by geologists, yet may they be sorry painters.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXVI. October, 1843. Vol. LIV. by Various
Stephen Karam’s Tony-winning play reached us with most of the original cast intact, including Reed Birney and Jayne Houdyshell, who reprised their Tony-winning performances in this family drama anatomizing the precarious plight of middle-class Americans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2018
It’s a great environment for anatomizing an uncommonly thoughtful family, which is held together by Marshall’s softly determined Barbara.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 9, 2015
Since his debut at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, critics have enjoyed anatomizing Xavier Dolan’s manic yet sublime style.
From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2015
Each incident of Internet straying brings its own gleeful anatomizing.
From Slate ● Feb. 1, 2013
But anatomizing their anguish, these creatures finally decided that it might not be spring fever, but merely hunger.
From Plum Pudding Of Divers Ingredients, Discreetly Blended & Seasoned by Christopher Morley
Definitions 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.
