comminute
Americanverb (used with object)
adjective
-
comminuted; divided into small parts.
-
powdered; pulverized.
verb
-
to break (a bone) into several small fragments
-
to divide (property) into small lots
-
(tr) to pulverize
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of comminute
1620–30; < Latin comminūtus, past participle of comminuere, equivalent to com- com- + minuere to lessen, akin to minor minor
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.
The stomach is well muscled and churns the food about, helping to comminute it, but it can not take the place of the teeth.
From Maintaining Health Formerly Health and Efficiency by Alsaker, R. L.
The soft and yielding texture of this organ—the stomach—indicates that it is not designed to crush and comminute solid articles of food.
From A Treatise on Physiology and Hygiene For Educational Institutions and General Readers by Hutchison, Joseph Chrisman
So this question becomes urgent: Why, the absolute's own total vision of things being so rational, was it necessary to comminute it into all these coexisting inferior fragmentary visions?
From A Pluralistic Universe Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the Present Situation in Philosophy by James, William
In exceptional cases it may be necessary to comminute a large foreign body such as a tooth plate.
From Bronchoscopy and Esophagoscopy A Manual of Peroral Endoscopy and Laryngeal Surgery by Jackson, Chevalier
As old people, thro’ diminution of appetite, open their mouths seldomer than formerly; so for want of teeth to comminute their food, they do it with less noise.
From Medica Sacra or a Commentary on on the Most Remarkable Diseases Mentioned in the Holy Scriptures by Mead, Richard
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.
