disintegration
AmericanOther Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disintegration
First recorded in 1790–1800; disintegrate + -ion
Explanation
Disintegration is when one thing splits into parts or just ceases to exist. When something is destroyed, broken up into pieces, or falls apart on its own, that’s disintegration. If you know that integration brings things or people together, you won't be surprised that disintegration means things are coming apart. Disintegration is what happens when a company breaks into smaller companies or when a band splits up. Often, disintegration is physical — a bomb could cause the disintegration of its target. The decomposition (rotting) of a body is an example of disintegration. When something radioactive decays, that's disintegration, too. Disintegration is when it all falls apart.
Vocabulary lists containing disintegration
East of Eden
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"Deep Survival," Vocabulary from the science writing
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Tracking Trash
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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.
Allen made an entire album about the disintegration of her marriage to David Barbour.
From Salon • Apr. 30, 2026
The disintegration of Willy’s mind reflects its cause, the disintegration of the family for which he has strived and sold himself—and his tattered, tarnished soul—for decades.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
Aung San's wartime comrade Ne Win, who had taken the helm of the armed forces after the leader's assassination in murky circumstances, swooped in in a putsch he justified as protection against Myanmar's disintegration.
From Barron's • Dec. 23, 2025
It's the rapid reimagining of O'Neill's team and the disintegration of the organisation that had been created.
From BBC • Dec. 12, 2025
The old guard’s natural radiation sources, the thimblefuls of radium and clumps of radium-beryllium they used to make the discoveries that transformed physics—nuclear disintegration, the neutron, and artificial radioactivity—had had their day.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
