anatomize

especially British, a·nat·o·mise

[uh-nat-uh-mahyz]

verb (used with object)

anatomized, anatomizing 

1. to cut apart (an animal or plant) to show or examine the position, structure, and relation of the parts; display the anatomy of; dissect.

2. to examine in great detail; analyze minutely.

   The couple anatomized their new neighbor.

anatomize

/ əˈnætəˌmaɪz /

verb

1. to dissect (an animal or plant)

2. to examine in minute detail

Other Word Forms

• anatomizer noun
• anatomization noun
• anatomizable adjective
• unanatomizable adjective
• unanatomized adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of anatomize¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French anatomiser or < Medieval Latin anatomizāre. See anatomy, -ize

Example Sentences

LuPone has two big numbers, both of which anatomize the ambivalence of married life: “The Little Things You Do Together” in the first act and “The Ladies Who Lunch” in the second.

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Over the last quarter-century, the book as physical organism has been increasingly anatomized, and there has been no better medium for displaying anatomists’ findings than the book itself.

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Though sartorial elegance is an instinct, as Mr. Cerruti suggested, it can be anatomized.

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The ambivalence of marriage is preserved in all its volatile disorder, but the social conditions, which Bergman patiently anatomizes in his version, are left vague.

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She has always had plenty to say about that, but now she is more interested in anatomizing all the forces that carved her into the woman she is today.

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