dismantle
verb /dɪsˈmæntl/
/dɪsˈmæntl/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they dismantle | /dɪsˈmæntl/ /dɪsˈmæntl/ |
| he / she / it dismantles | /dɪsˈmæntlz/ /dɪsˈmæntlz/ |
| past simple dismantled | /dɪsˈmæntld/ /dɪsˈmæntld/ |
| past participle dismantled | /dɪsˈmæntld/ /dɪsˈmæntld/ |
| -ing form dismantling | /dɪsˈmæntlɪŋ/ /dɪsˈmæntlɪŋ/ |
- dismantle something to take apart a machine or structure so that it is in separate pieces
- I had to dismantle the engine in order to repair it.
- The steel mill was dismantled piece by piece.
- dismantle something to end an organization or a system gradually in an organized way
- The government was in the process of dismantling the state-owned industries.
Word Originlate 16th cent. (in the sense ‘destroy the defensive capability of a fortification’): from Old French desmanteler, from des- (expressing reversal) + manteler ‘fortify’ (from Latin mantellum ‘cloak’).