sunder
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sundersimple
-
sunderssimple
-
have sunderedperfect
-
has sunderedperfect
-
am sunderingprogressive
-
are sunderingprogressive
-
is sunderingprogressive
-
have been sunderingperfect progressive
-
has been sunderingperfect progressive
Past
-
sunderedsimple
-
had sunderedperfect
-
was sunderingprogressive
-
were sunderingprogressive
-
had been sunderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sunder
First recorded before 900; Middle English sundren, Old English sundrian; cognate with German sondern, Old Norse sundra; see sundry
Explanation
Think of the word sunder as violently tearing something apart. A frequent line in a wedding ceremony is, "What God has joined together, let no man tear asunder." Keep that in mind, and you'll have the meaning of the word. Throughout its history, the word sunder has carried the same basic meaning, "to tear or break apart." It is of good Germanic stock, coming from the Old English verb sundrian. All of the related Germanic words, then and now, carry the idea of separation, usually in a violent or unpleasant manner.
Vocabulary lists containing sunder
"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Beowulf vocabulary
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 5
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Democratic consultant Jim Ross and his Republican consultant brother, Tom, say their affection and mutual regard is something no campaign can ever sunder — even in these contentious times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2025
Each event had the potential to sunder the world.
From New York Times ● Sep. 24, 2021
Importing market logic into a longer-term, less impersonal relationship makes no sense, and in fact, it tends to sunder those relations.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 26, 2019
Any move to sunder diplomatic relations again would recreate a long-standing irritant for the region.
From Economist ● Oct. 5, 2017
“You will voluntarily sunder my last knot, the final impediment to my independence, if I restore your grandmother to her human form?”
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
By the memoir’s end, that tidal wave sunders the relationship among the sisters and destroys the world of their childhood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Ebola sunders the bonds that make us human.
From Slate ● Sep. 19, 2014
Each autumn - or earlier, if summer is particularly disappointing - there's an argument that sunders households up and down the country.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2013
Man often implicates himself early in snares, the gordian knot of which death alone forcibly sunders!
From Tales from the German Comprising specimens from the most celebrated authors by Various
It closes up the issues of all knowledge, and sunders every ligament that binds us to practical life.
From The Crown of Thorns : a token for the sorrowing by Chapin, E. H. (Edwin Hubbell)
The partition that once sealed out the cranks and mediocrities has been permanently sundered.
From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2026
The sundered ship fans out like a deck of cards then collapses, smoldering.
From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2024
They spoke of how their community would be sundered and friendships lost, because their public school is at the center of these bonds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2024
Genealogy search registries can repair sundered ancestral bonds, reuniting relatives yearning for kinship.
From Salon ● Feb. 26, 2023
The midmost stood somewhat forward from the others and sundered from them, an island in the waters, about which the flowing River flung pale shimmering arms.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
We’ve met the third sundering already, the Mother of All Partitions—that of India and Pakistan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Although the region had been volcanically dormant for centuries, the tectonic sundering happening in the depths meant that the latest eruptions have long been in the works.
From National Geographic ● Jul. 24, 2023
Taranti’s sundering from her beloved spirit family and Paranto’s inability to speak to his dead father in waking life are just single moments of personal drama in a vast historical shift.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 5, 2023
In response to a dynamic of sundering, he makes an art of adding, combining.
From New York Times ● Jul. 16, 2020
In any case, I started with Elf Ear, Nebraska, and the stage and the sundering that occurred there.
From "Louisiana's Way Home" by Kate DiCamillo
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.
