dissect
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to cut open and examine the structure of (a dead animal or plant)
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(tr) to examine critically and minutely
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To cut apart or separate body tissues or organs, especially for anatomical study.
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In surgery, to separate different anatomical structures along natural lines by dividing the connective tissue framework.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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dissectionnoun
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dissectornoun
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redissectverb (used with object)
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dissectibleadjective
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self-dissectingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dissectsimple
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dissectssimple
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have dissectedperfect
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has dissectedperfect
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am dissectingprogressive
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are dissectingprogressive
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is dissectingprogressive
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have been dissectingperfect progressive
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has been dissectingperfect progressive
Past
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dissectedsimple
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had dissectedperfect
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was dissectingprogressive
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were dissectingprogressive
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had been dissectingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dissect
1600–10; < Latin dissectus (past participle of dissecāre to cut up), equivalent to dis- dis- 1 + sec- cut + -tus past participle suffix
Explanation
When you dissect a frog in science class, you cut it open to look at its inner organs. To dissect is to break something down to look at its parts. Dissecting something allows you to look at it closely and understand it better. If your soccer team loses a match, you might want to dissect the game afterward to try to find exactly how and when things went wrong. Television analysts will often dissect a political speech to understand what was really being said, how true the statements were, and how well it was done.
Vocabulary lists containing dissect
"Fine?" Vocabulary from the short story
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
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Thirteen Reasons Why
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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:
Some are by amateur forensic analysts and would-be internet sleuths with podcast names like The Murder Men that dissect the killing as if it’s a 1980s cold case.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2026
Voters, he said, don’t dissect candidates’ identities and attributes the way political professionals do.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
One is that the market is slow to react to pure news that has “high quantitative intensity” — articles that dissect a company’s income or balance sheet, for example.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 4, 2026
And it’s Henry who’s the star of this outfit, almost always the first to dissect whatever just happened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
At the table, Mom and Dad would dissect them with precision, leaving no meat to waste.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
Its current season dissects “An American Tragedy,” which I haven’t read.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2026
Graham Greene dissects the human heart, laying bare its irreconcilable contradictions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
Like any kind of fandom, HahaYes dissects each and every seemingly meaningless Musk tweet, searching desperately for hidden meaning to a point of near-delusion.
From Slate ● Sep. 26, 2025
Meredith Lynch, a Los Angeles native, writer and influencer who frequently dissects influencer culture online, says the Beverly Hills location, in particular, has become a stage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2025
Not that she dissects and ponders the dusty mechanical bits of her miserable life’s curse.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
The German creator of the controversial "Body Worlds" exhibitions of dissected human and animal bodies, Gunther von Hagens, has died at age 81, his family said Monday.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Just like when Swift releases new music and her lyrics are dissected for any hints about her personal life, her legion of fans around the world have been scavenging for clues to her nuptials.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Hall in 1994, an otherwise routine vote-dilution case, Justice Thomas took the opportunity to write a concurrence that dissected the Court’s Thornburg v.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026
Mastick and her team opened 178 cans and carefully dissected the preserved fish, counting tiny parasitic worms known as anisakids embedded in the flesh.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 1, 2026
Each day we dissected big and small issues from morning until midnight.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
"Art breaks down the borders and boundaries of our imagination; it poses questions, and playing with and dissecting it expands and challenges our present reality," she said.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
Leopold Aschenbrenner has attracted a cult following online, with fans dissecting his every move.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
The Democratic Party found itself trapped in a similar dynamic earlier this month, when the Democratic National Committee released a long-awaited, 192-page report dissecting the 2024 loss.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
But investors were already dissecting the summations of the talks issued by the two countries afterward.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
That learning about the Pythagorean theorem and arpeggios and dissecting worms is the only thing that could keep her mind off it.
From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy
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.
