disintegrate
Americanverb (used without object)
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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)
verb
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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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Related Words
See decay.
Other Word Forms
- disintegrable adjective
- disintegration noun
- disintegrative adjective
- disintegrator noun
- disintegratory adjective
- nondisintegrating adjective
Etymology
Origin of disintegrate
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.
Plastic wipes don't disintegrate when flushed down the toilet, so when oil and fat congeal on them, so-called fatbergs form in sewers, which water companies say cost them £200m a year to clear.
From BBC • Nov. 17, 2025
This kind of "odd" solid can even disintegrate on its own.
From Science Daily • Oct. 21, 2025
Were you to cook Swiss chard fully intact, without separating the stems and leaves, the leaf would disintegrate by the time the stems were tender.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 3, 2025
Two decades after digital downloading was supposed to disintegrate the full-length LP, musicians seem as eager to collect and to sprawl — and sometimes to tighten up — as they’ve ever been.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2024
Theodor, in a series of elegant experiments, has shown that when two individuals of the same species are placed in close contact, the smaller of the two will always begin to disintegrate.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
