asunder

[ uh-suhn-der ]

/ əˈsʌn dər /

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adverb, adjective

into separate parts; in or into pieces: Lightning split the old oak tree asunder.

apart or widely separated: as wide asunder as the polar regions.

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Origin of asunder

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English on sundrum “apart”; see a-¹, sundry

Words nearby asunder

astuteness, Astyanax, astylar, ASU, Asunción, asunder, A supply, Asur, Asura, as usual, A.S.V.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use asunder in a sentence

Overnight, lives were torn asunder as “evacuees” were hastily gathered at “assembly centers” and taken to “relocation centers”— euphemisms for the camps that imprisoned them through much of the war.
How Eleanor Roosevelt Worked to Stop Her Husband Approving Japanese Internment Camps During World War II|Francine Uenuma|February 18, 2022|Time
Really hate to see families cast asunder when kids are involved, but I also hate to see kids trapped in a hell of their parents’ making.
What It Means When Your Wife Says She Slept With George Clooney|Eugene Robinson|December 8, 2020|Ozy
How does an event like this one tear relationships asunder and push new ones together?
‘Under the Dome’ Is One Eerie TV Show|Jace Lacob|June 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST
By breaking up the biggest banks, conservatives will not be putting asunder what the free market has joined together.
Break Up the Banks?|Megan McArdle|February 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST

And when you tear asunder codependent organisms, trouble comes knocking.
An Epidemic of Absence: Destroying the Bugs in Our Bodies Can Be Dangerous to Our Health|Moises Velasquez-Manoff|September 9, 2012|DAILY BEAST
But there is an ongoing rupture with Bill; their marriage was truly torn asunder last season.
Polygamy's Back|Jace Lacob|January 7, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Many couples are torn asunder by financial devastation, not to mention the usual results of sharing too much sexual information.
Bernie Made Off With My Wife|Tracy Quan|September 2, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The legal framework of the State and of obedience to the law in which industrial society is set threatens to break asunder.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
The framework in which our industrial life is set cannot be readily broken asunder.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
The horizon, however, was lowering and hazy, and the sun had not force enough to tear the murky veil asunder.
A Woman's Journey Round the World|Ida Pfeiffer
He hath decked it with silver and gold: he hath put it together with nails and hammers, that it may not fall asunder.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
The cage went down by the run into the boat, and with a crash fell asunder.
The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands|R.M. Ballantyne

British Dictionary definitions for asunder

asunder

/ (əˈsʌndə) /

adverb, adjective

(postpositive) in or into parts or pieces; apartto tear asunder

Word Origin for asunder

Old English on sundran apart; see sunder

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

asunder

Origin of asunder

Words nearby asunder

Words related to asunder

How to use asunder in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for asunder

Word Origin for asunder