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Webster 1913 Edition


Dissect

Dis-sect′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Dissected
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Dissecting
.]
[L.
dissectus
, p. p. of
dissecare
;
dis-
+
secare
to cut. See
Section
.]
1.
(Anat.)
To divide into separate parts; to cut in pieces; to separate and expose the parts of, as an animal or a plant, for examination and to show their structure and relations; to anatomize.
2.
To analyze, for the purposes of science or criticism; to divide and examine minutely.
This paragraph . . . I have
dissected
for a sample.
Atterbury.

Webster 1828 Edition


Dissect

DISSECT

,
Verb.
T.
[L., to cut.]
1.
To cut in pieces; to divide an animal body, with a cutting instrument, by separating the joints; as, to dissect a fowl. Hence appropriately,
2.
To cut in pieces, as an animal or vegetable, for the purpose of examining the structure and use of its several parts; to anatomize. Also, to open any part of a body to observe its morbid appearances, or to ascertain the cause of death or the seat of a disease.
3.
To divide into its constituent parts, for the purpose of examination; as, dissect your mind; dissect a paragraph.

Definition 2024


dissect

dissect

English

Verb

dissect (third-person singular simple present dissects, present participle dissecting, simple past and past participle dissected)

  1. (transitive) To study an animal's anatomy by cutting it apart; to perform a necropsy or an autopsy.
  2. (transitive) To study a plant or other organism's anatomy similarly.
  3. (transitive) To analyze an idea in detail by separating it into its parts.
  4. (transitive, anatomy, surgery) To separate muscles, organs, and so on without cutting into them or disrupting their architecture.
    Now dissect the triceps away from its attachment on the humerus.
  5. (transitive, pathology) Of an infection or foreign material, following the fascia separating muscles or other organs.

Derived terms

Translations