dismember
verb
dis·mem·ber (ˌ)dis-ˈmem-bər 
dismembered; dismembering (ˌ)dis-ˈmem-b(ə-)riŋ
transitive verb
1
: to cut off or disjoin the limbs, members, or parts of
2
: to break up or tear into pieces
dismemberment
(ˌ)dis-ˈmem-bər-mənt
noun 
Synonyms
- break
- break up
- bust
- disintegrate
- disrupt
- fracture
- fragment
- rive
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
The victims' bodies had been dismembered and buried in the basement. quickly dismembered the old toolshed and hauled it off to the dump
Recent Examples on the Web The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is chock-full of crates to search and weapons to violently dismember zombies with. 
WIRED, 15 Sep. 2022 The two men then used an ax and knife to dismember his corpse, wrapped the pieces in plastic bags, and drove to the Idaho-Oregon border to dump the body parts in the Brownlee Reservoir. Alyssa Fiorentino, House Beautiful, 7 Sep. 2022 State television spews out aggressive propaganda daily, claiming that the United States provoked Russia’s war against Ukraine as part of a plot to dismember the country and gobble up its resources. Mary Ilyushina, Washington Post, 26 July 2022 Drug gangs here, which ferry cocaine south from Peru and Colombia, typically dismember their victims’ bodies before dumping them in the river to be eaten by fish, police said. Luciana Magalhaes, WSJ, 16 June 2022 Even blocking some of those goods from countries that have already imposed sanctions or restrictions could dismember whole sectors in Russia. Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2022 That task was essentially to dismember Ukraine and change the regime in Kyiv, and the force was too small for that purpose. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2022 According to Turkish authorities, that’s the implement that Mohammed’s henchmen allegedly used on Oct. 2, 2018, to dismember Jamal Khashoggi, a Post columnist and Saudi dissident. Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2022 America’s current adversaries seek first to destabilize and then to dismember the liberal-democratic international order. Jerry Hendrix, National Review, 17 Mar. 2022 See More
WIRED, 15 Sep. 2022 The two men then used an ax and knife to dismember his corpse, wrapped the pieces in plastic bags, and drove to the Idaho-Oregon border to dump the body parts in the Brownlee Reservoir. Alyssa Fiorentino, House Beautiful, 7 Sep. 2022 State television spews out aggressive propaganda daily, claiming that the United States provoked Russia’s war against Ukraine as part of a plot to dismember the country and gobble up its resources. Mary Ilyushina, Washington Post, 26 July 2022 Drug gangs here, which ferry cocaine south from Peru and Colombia, typically dismember their victims’ bodies before dumping them in the river to be eaten by fish, police said. Luciana Magalhaes, WSJ, 16 June 2022 Even blocking some of those goods from countries that have already imposed sanctions or restrictions could dismember whole sectors in Russia. Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2022 That task was essentially to dismember Ukraine and change the regime in Kyiv, and the force was too small for that purpose. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2022 According to Turkish authorities, that’s the implement that Mohammed’s henchmen allegedly used on Oct. 2, 2018, to dismember Jamal Khashoggi, a Post columnist and Saudi dissident. Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2022 America’s current adversaries seek first to destabilize and then to dismember the liberal-democratic international order. Jerry Hendrix, National Review, 17 Mar. 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
Middle English dismembren, from Anglo-French desmembrer, from des- dis- + membre member
First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Medical Definition
dismember
transitive verb
dis·mem·ber (ˈ)dis-ˈmem-bər
dismembered; dismembering -b(ə-)riŋ
: to cut off or disjoin the limbs, members, or parts of
dismemberment
noun
as in decomposition
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- decomposition
- disassembly
- dissolution
- breakup
- cleavage
- subdivision
- sundering
- rupture
- divorce
- disunion
- segmentation
- split
- severance
- bifurcation
- schism
- fractionalization
- separation
- fractionation
- partition
- scission
- breach
- division
- dispersal
- polarization
- dispersion
- administration
- atomization
- distribution
- isolation
- scattering
- diffusion
- apportionment
- segregation
- seclusion
- sequestration
- dichotomization
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- association
- connection
- assemblage
- consolidation
- attachment
- linkage
- conjunction
- fusion
- combination
- union
- link
- aggregation
- unification
- linkup