dismantle
Americanverb (used with object)
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to deprive or strip of apparatus, furniture, equipment, defenses, etc..
to dismantle a ship; to dismantle a fortress.
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to disassemble or pull down; take apart.
They dismantled the machine and shipped it in pieces.
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to divest of dress, covering, etc..
The wind dismantled the trees of their leaves.
verb
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to take apart
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to demolish or raze
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to strip of covering
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dismantlesimple
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dismantlessimple
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have dismantledperfect
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has dismantledperfect
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am dismantlingprogressive
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are dismantlingprogressive
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is dismantlingprogressive
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have been dismantlingperfect progressive
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has been dismantlingperfect progressive
Past
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dismantledsimple
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had dismantledperfect
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was dismantlingprogressive
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were dismantlingprogressive
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had been dismantlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dismantle
From the Middle French word desmanteler, dating back to 1570–80. See dis- 1, mantle
Explanation
To take something apart or down is to dismantle it. If you dismantle a computer to see what it looks like inside, you better know how to put it back together, or you might be looking at the inside of your room for awhile. Dismantle is a verb used for both physical things and ideas. You can dismantle a campground by taking down the tents and breaking apart the fire logs, or you can dismantle a government by going against its leadership and bringing down its rule. Often when you dismantle something, you take away its ability to work, as with a nuclear warhead, but you can also take apart decorative or non-working things, as when you dismantle a science-fair display or a city made of blocks.
Vocabulary lists containing dismantle
The Alchemist
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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A Long Way Gone
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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 prophecy states that they’ll acquire the powers of “Break” – to dismantle or undo something – and “Seal” to contain, reconstruct or suppress something.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
Alongside the recommendations, the EU has ramped up the pressure on social media platforms to change, telling Facebook and Instagram Friday to dismantle their "addictive" features, after a similar warning to TikTok in February.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
The executive order is part of the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle Mexican drug cartels that includes the Jalisco New Genertion Cartel and the Beltran Leyva Organization.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
This would dismantle an earlier bet on combining entertainment and distribution.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Maybe having a mom who also wants to dismantle the patriarchy and a dad who wears frilly aprons will do that.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
“Collaboration recovers children sooner, links investigation, dismantles trafficking organizations and holds traffickers accountable. A trafficker should never escape accountability because critical information was sitting in another agency’s database.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Justice Elena Kagan’s majority opinion on Monday dismantles that theory piece by piece.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026
The deal dismantles a major part of Drahi’s business empire, as he sells assets to lower debt amid rising interest rates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
"If England's attack fires and dismantles Australia's batting order, the McCullum-Stokes masterplan will have them join the list of successful English leaders in Australia."
From Barron's ● Nov. 19, 2025
He dismantles the machine, stares into its circuits, lets his fingers trace the journeys of electrons.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
According to Clark, who also authors the Capital Flows and Asset Markets blog, the financial architecture built during the Thatcher-Reagan revolution of the 1980s is being dismantled.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
But in a housing crisis where the working solution is to build, build, build, some of the area’s least expensive housing has been steadily dismantled over the decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
But the army said its operations, which lasted more than a month, targeted the kidnappers' wider networks and dismantled several hideouts in the forests of Old Oyo National Park.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
The government faced criticism earlier this year after it dismantled a large camp holding displaced families of Islamic State fighters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
I dismantled my sleeping nest to repurpose its branches and hewed off additional ones from nearby trees.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
The US titan accused the EU of dismantling safety protections on Google Play.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
West Cumbria Rivers Trust is dismantling a redundant weir at Glinger Burn near Longtown to help the eel and other fish migrate up and down the river more easily.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
The Italian was at his ruthless best in dismantling Djokovic, overcoming the player who was expected to be his biggest obstacle to success in straight sets.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Both sides left the tougher negotiation on dismantling Iran’s nuclear work for the next 60 days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Iorek Byrnison was dismantling a gas-engined tractor that had crashed; the metal covering of the engine was twisted and buckled and one runner bent upward.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
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.
