disarticulate

American  

[dis-ahr-tik-yuh-leyt] / ˌdɪs ɑrˈtɪk jəˌleɪt /

verb (used with or without object)

disarticulated, disarticulating

1. to make or become disjointed, as the bones of a body or stems of a plant.

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disarticulate British  

/ ˌdɪsɑːˈtɪkjʊˌleɪt /

verb

1. to separate or cause to separate at the joints, esp those of bones

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Other Word Forms

• disarticulation
  noun
• disarticulator
  noun

Etymology

Origin of disarticulate

First recorded in 1820–30; dis- ¹ + articulate

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

disarticulate disarticulated disarticulating

Attention! isn't trying to disarticulate the whole idea of ordered writing.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 21, 2013

I was next awakened by the sudden and persistent thought that I must have a flag, and accordingly set to work to disarticulate the frozen legs of my dead dogs.

From A Labrador Doctor The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell by Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, Sir

"Pray, never mind me at all, gentlemen—I'll listen blandly whilst I disarticulate this beautiful bird."

From The Seeker by Wilson, Harry Leon

If, however, the terminal branch of the dorsalis pedis artery be wounded, it may be necessary to disarticulate the first metatarsal to secure it rather than trust to compression to stop the bleeding.

From A Manual of the Operations of Surgery For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners by Bell, Joseph

Retaining Mr. Syme's incisions in their integrity, some operators prefer not to disarticulate the foot, but remove it by sawing through the tibia and fibula at once, while still in connection with the foot.

From A Manual of the Operations of Surgery For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners by Bell, Joseph

Nearby, Haile-Selassie later found the lower jaw, teeth, and disarticulated bones of the hands, feet, and arm of Ardipithecus kadabba, dated to 5.8 million years ago.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 3, 2024

I cleaned and polished fox skulls; disarticulated, dried and kept the wings of roadkill birds.

From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2020

The dinosaur’s bones were disarticulated, jumbled, and even broken into fragments.

From Scientific American ● Jan. 6, 2019

I ordered them through a U.S. company specializing in disarticulated human skeletons, and a week later I received a container with 206 pieces of the human body.

From Salon ● May 31, 2012

Cuvier was already dazzling people with his genius for taking heaps of disarticulated bones and whipping them into shapely forms.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

If he didn’t do the film, somebody else would eventually, disarticulating it with the sort of hyperbole he hated and which he made such an effort to avoid in his own accounts.

From Golf Digest ● Mar. 23, 2020

Regarding the method of disarticulating at the astragalo-calcaneal joint, and removing all the foot except the astragalus, no detail need be given.

From A Manual of the Operations of Surgery For the Use of Senior Students, House Surgeons, and Junior Practitioners by Bell, Joseph

Spikelets are unilateral, sessile, crowded, biseriate on a slender rachis with four to six glumes and 1 to 3-flowered; the rachilla is produced and disarticulating above the empty glumes.

From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by Rangachari, K.