dis·in·te·gra·tion

(dĭs-ĭn′tĭ-grā′shən)

1. The act or process of disintegrating.

2. The state of being disintegrated.

3. The natural or induced transformation of an atomic nucleus from a more massive to a less massive configuration by the emission of particles or radiation.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Disintegration

See Also: DESTRUCTION

(Shirley’s childless marriage had) become unstuck like a piece of old and grubby sticking plaster —Gillian Tindall
Blown aside like thistledown —John Fowles
Fowles used this simile once to describe the eventual collapse of a political party and another time to describe a mood. Some similes obviously transfer to different points of reference more easily than others.
Broke like a sea-bubble on the sand —James Montgomery
(Perhaps the hope will die stillborn,) broken up like wreckage by the tides of events —Lawrence Durrell
Come apart like wet kleenex —Anon
(When I hit him he) comes apart like a perfect puzzle or an old flower —Philip Levine
Comes apart like meat being carved —G. K. Chesterton
(He started) coming apart like seedpod —Sharon Sheehe Stark
Cracking and fading like an old photograph —George Garrett
Crumbled like crackers into alphabet soup —Dave Anderson, New York Times/Sports of the Times, November 24, 1986
The comparison referred to disintegration of a once great heavyweight champion division.
Crumble like old cheese —Anon
Crumble like soda crackers —Dashiell Hammett
(Their argument) crumbles like dry rice paper —Nicholas Proffitt
(The old voice) crumpled … like a fragile leaf —Lawrence Durrell
Crumple … like a leaf in the fire —James Joyce
Crumple up like wet and falling roses —D. H. Lawrence
(The house was) old and decayed like the pitted trunk of a persimmon —Yasunari Kawabata
Disintegrate like a bubble at a touch —Anon
Disintegrate like a crumbling monument —Anon
(Words came to my lips and) dissipated like the wisps of children’s breaths in the cold air outside —Kent Nelson
Dissolved and grew flimsy like the world after champagne —Graham Swift
[A committee] dissolved like a summer cloud —Edith Wharton
Dissolved like spit in the wind —Wallace Stevens
Dissolve like vague promises —Elyse Sommer
(Floats on water) dissolving like a paper plate —Margaret Atwood
(The white sky) empties of its promise, like a cup —Sylvia Plath
(The shadows under the trees and bushes) evaporated like puddles after a shower —Stephen King
Evaporated like a drop of dew —Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Evaporate … like hoar frost before the morning sun —W. Somerset Maugham
Maugham’s simile from The Summing Up refers to the way changing tastes affect perceptions of an art work’s beauty.
Fall apart and scatter like a smashed string of beads —Yaakov Churgin
Falling into decay like a layer of mulch —Jean Thompson
(Furniture) falling to pieces like dry fruitcake —William H. Gass
Fizzles out like a wet firecracker —John Wainwright
Goes up in smoke like so much tissue paper —Elizabeth Spencer
Go sour [as a project] like milk abandoned in the far corner of the refrigerator —Marian Sturm
Melt away like salt in water —Sholom Aleichem
Melt away like Turkish delights —Frank O’Hara
Melted away like a snail —Elizabeth Spencer
[Members of a social set] melted away, like snow drops over a bonfire —Ayn Rand
Melted [in response to compliments] like butter on the Sahara —Tony Ardizzone
Melted like wax —The Holy Bible
(The day is) melting away like snow —Plautus
This has been used in poetry and daily language since 200 B.C., and is still going strong.
Melts away like moonlight in the heaven of spreading day —Percy Bysshe Shelley
(Your mind now) moldering like a wedding-cake —Adrienne Rich
Rot and shred and peel away like old wallpaper —George Garrett
[Resolutions] thinned away like smoke, into nothingness —Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), The Gioconda Smile, Harper and Brothers: New York, 1921
Rotted through like old shoe leather —Marge Piercy
Rotting like autumn leaves —Marguerite Yourcenar
Shredded away like leaf tobacco —Saul Bellow
(The snake slides again and again until all passed is left behind to) shrivel like a ghost without substance —Daniela Gioseffi
(The remembrance had been brought to mind so often that it was) tarnished and dull, like a trinket not worth looking at —Beryl Markham
(Her muscles came) undone like ribbons —Sharon Sheehe Stark
Wear out like a worn battery —Anon
This makes a good update for “Wears out like a run-down gramophone record.”
Went to pieces like a cheap umbrella in a gale —Anon
This is updated from the original “Like a fifty cent umbrella,” something today only obtainable at a rummage sale.
Will dissolve faster than an Alka-Seltzer under a waterfall —Barry Farber, WNYC radio, commenting on the endurance of communism.
Wither like the flower of the field —Miguel de Cervante
Withered like grass —The Holy Bible/Psalms
Wither like a blighted tree —Barbara Howes
Withers like the face of an aged woman —Beryl Markham

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	disintegration - in a decomposed state decomposition fragmentation - the disintegration of social norms governing behavior and thought and social relationships decay - an inferior state resulting from the process of decaying; "the corpse was in an advanced state of decay"; "the house had fallen into a serious state of decay and disrepair"
	2.	disintegration - a loss (or serious disruption) of organization in some system; "a disintegration of personality" disability, disablement, handicap, impairment - the condition of being unable to perform as a consequence of physical or mental unfitness; "reading disability"; "hearing impairment"
	3.	disintegration - separation into component parts dissolution fibrinolysis - a normal ongoing process that dissolves fibrin and results in the removal of small blood clots; "drugs causing fibrinolysis have been utilized therapeutically" lysis - (biochemistry) dissolution or destruction of cells such as blood cells or bacteria natural action, natural process, action, activity - a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings); "the action of natural forces"; "volcanic activity"
	4.	disintegration - the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance along with the emission of ionizing radiation radioactive decay, decay alpha decay - radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus that is accompanied by the emission of an alpha particle beta decay - radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus that is accompanied by the emission of a beta particle nuclear reaction - (physics) a process that alters the energy or structure or composition of atomic nuclei
	5.	disintegration - total destruction; "bomb tests resulted in the annihilation of the atoll" annihilation extermination, extinction - complete annihilation; "they think a meteor cause the extinction of the dinosaurs" demolition, wipeout, destruction - an event (or the result of an event) that completely destroys something

disintegration

noun

The condition of being decayed:

breakdown, decay, decomposition, deterioration, putrefaction, putrescence, putridness, rot, rottenness, spoilage.

Translations

تَفْكيك، تَفَسُّخ

rozloženírozpad

opløsning

Auflösung Zerfall

désintégration

tæring, eyîing

disintegrazione decomposizione disgregazione

forvitring

parçala ma

分裂

disintegration

[dɪsˌɪntɪˈgreɪʃən] N → desintegración f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

disintegration

[dɪsˌɪntɪˈgreɪʃ^ən] n

[object] → désintégration f; [substance] → désagrégation f

[relationship, marriage, nation] → désagrégation f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

disintegration

n → Zerfall m; (of rock, cement) → Auseinanderbröckeln nt; (of road surface) → Rissigkeit f; (of group, institution, family) → Auflösung f; (of marriage, society, theory) → Zusammenbruch m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

disintegration

[dɪsˌɪntɪˈgreɪʃ/ən] n (see vb) → disintegrazione f, disgregamento

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

disintegrate

(disˈintigreit) verb

to (cause to) fall to pieces. The paper bag was so wet that the bottom disintegrated and all the groceries fell out.

disˌinteˈgration noun

dis·in·te·gra·tion

n. desintegración, descomposición, separación.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

In consequence again of those accursed laws of consciousness, anger in me is subject to chemical disintegration. You look into it, the object flies off into air, your reasons evaporate, the criminal is not to be found, the wrong becomes not a wrong but a phantom, something like the toothache, for which no one is to blame, and consequently there is only the same outlet left again--that is, to beat the wall as hard as you can.

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The place breathed the very atmosphere of decay and death, and the imbecile ancient, curing in the smoke the token of death, was himself palsiedly shaking into the disintegration of the grave.

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Hardness is predicated of a thing because it has that capacity of resistance which enables it to withstand disintegration; softness, again, is predicated of a thing by reason of the lack of that capacity.

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It was one of the few homesteads that remained still undivided, but even here the dull internal work of disintegration which would inevitably lead to separation had already begun, starting as usual among the women.

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Then followed a period of vehement and passionate conflict against disintegration; everywhere the struggle to keep order and to keep fighting went on.

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Archer could hear Lawrence Lefferts, at that very hour, holding forth on the disintegration of society.

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The scattered boulders that had fallen from above and lay upon or partly buried in the turf, were the only indication that any disintegration of the massive, towering pile of rocks ever had taken place.

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Of these plans he had not merely one or two in his head but dozens, some only beginning to form themselves, some approaching achievement, and some in course of disintegration. He did not, for instance, say to himself: "This man now has influence, I must gain his confidence and friendship and through him obtain a special grant." Nor did he say to himself: "Pierre is a rich man, I must entice him to marry my daughter and lend me the forty thousand rubles I need." But when he came across came across a man of position his instinct immediately told him that this man could be useful, and without any premeditation Prince Vasili took the first opportunity to gain his confidence, flatter him, become intimate with him, and finally make his request.

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I have sometimes thought, that the earth and fragments of stone on the surface, were perhaps less effectually removed by slowly percolating snow-water [2] than by rain, and therefore that the appearance of a quicker disintegration of the solid rock under the snow, was deceptive.

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"Yet they were powerful, and it appears that when death comes they force practically instantaneous disintegration. Remarkable!

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Half our battle would be won then; the disintegration of the old morality would have set in in its very temple.

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It still has all the suitability of ordinary paracetamol but differs with its fast-dissolving action that is due to an advanced disintegration system called Optizorb.

GlaxoSmithKline launches Panadol Advance