disintegrate
Americanverb (used without object)
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disintegrates,
present (3rd person singular)
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disintegrated,
past participle, past
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disintegrating
present participle
-
to separate into parts or lose intactness or solidness; break up; deteriorate.
The old book is gradually disintegrating with age.
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Physics.
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to decay.
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(of a nucleus) to change into one or more different nuclei after being bombarded by high-energy particles, as alpha particles or gamma rays.
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verb (used with object)
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disintegrates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
disintegrated,
past participle, past
-
disintegrating
present participle
verb
-
to break or be broken into fragments or constituent parts; shatter
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to lose or cause to lose cohesion or unity
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(intr) to lose judgment or control; deteriorate
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physics
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to induce or undergo nuclear fission, as by bombardment with fast particles
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another word for decay
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Synonym Usage
See decay.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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disintegrationnoun
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disintegratornoun
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disintegrableadjective
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disintegrativeadjective
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disintegratoryadjective
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nondisintegratingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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disintegratesimple
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disintegratessimple
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have disintegratedperfect
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has disintegratedperfect
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am disintegratingprogressive
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are disintegratingprogressive
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is disintegratingprogressive
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have been disintegratingperfect progressive
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has been disintegratingperfect progressive
Past
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disintegratedsimple
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had disintegratedperfect
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was disintegratingprogressive
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were disintegratingprogressive
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had been disintegratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disintegrate
Explanation
Soak your tooth in a cup of soda for long enough and it will disintegrate, or break apart from decay. The word disintegrate comes from a combination of the prefix dis- meaning "do the opposite of" and the Latin integrare meaning "to make whole." When something disintegrates, it does the opposite of become whole; it falls apart. Objects can either disintegrate over time — like a tooth soaking in a cup of soda, or instantaneously — like a building disintegrating into dust from an explosion.
Vocabulary lists containing disintegrate
The Lightning Thief
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Fahrenheit 451
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Farewell to Manzanar
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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:
The scouts said the object climbed quickly before appearing to disintegrate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
The Swift space telescope, which studies the most powerful explosions in the universe, will now likely plunge back to earth and disintegrate along the way later this year.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Tall figures, made in the 1960s, seem to disintegrate as we concentrate on the nuances of De Kooning’s touch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
When a brooding Pitt admits he’s had trouble with “family stuff,” the writer lets the sentiment disintegrate.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
Back in the darkest corner of my heart it lay, so well pressed that its fragile edges might chip, break off, even disintegrate if I tried to touch it.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
However, the US Geological Survey then clarified that the disaster was caused by a "glacial collapse", which is when a glacier or part of a glacier disintegrates.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
But if data disintegrates, he said, he would vote in favor of a cut.
From Barron's ● Feb. 23, 2026
He adds that if we sacrifice that commitment for A.I., “you’d get to a point pretty fast where it just disintegrates and becomes the ugliest definition of the word product.”
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2024
Aluminum-based superconducting qubits can store information for a relatively long time before the data inevitably disintegrates.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 26, 2024
There is a warbling WOOP-WOOP sound as the invisible force field disintegrates.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
One of the rock spires, which are known as fairy chimneys, reportedly disintegrated at the popular open-air museum in the central town of Göreme.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Every robot that faceplanted, lost a limb, or disintegrated in a spray of sparks was borne away on a stretcher by human attendants with deadpan solicitude.
From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026
By 1946, the young republic had almost disintegrated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Given how fragile it was, it may simply have disintegrated on the shelf and been overlooked or thrown away.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
At once, the whole moth, already years dead, disintegrated, collapsing into a soft, formless heap of dark dust.
From "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill
A new paper looking at the chemical reactions between water and disintegrating plastic offers a potential hypothesis for how microplastics might make us sick.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
So does he have the numbers and is he willing to move – particularly if it is harder for him to point to Sir Keir's authority disintegrating because there is already a challenger?
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
Scientists are warning that glaciers in the Austrian Alps are not just shrinking, but are disintegrating, because of climate change.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
The story of her disintegrating marriage to fellow writer Murray Bail makes for a slow burn of suspense and readerly alarm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
The old road was disintegrating, split, weed- sprung.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
