Disintegration

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Disintegration \Dis*in`te*gra"tion\, n.
     (a) The process by which anything is disintegrated; the
         condition of anything which is disintegrated.
         Specifically
     (b) (Geol.) The wearing away or falling to pieces of rocks or
         strata, produced by atmospheric action, frost, ice, etc.


         [1913 Webster]
  
               Society had need of further disintegration before
               it could begin to reconstruct itself locally.
                                                    --Motley.
         [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  disintegration
       n 1: in a decomposed state [syn: {decomposition}]
       2: separation into component parts [syn: {dissolution}]
       3: the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance
          along with the emission of ionizing radiation [syn: {decay},
           {radioactive decay}]
       4: total destruction; "bomb tests resulted in the annihilation
          of the atoll" [syn: {annihilation}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  145 Moby Thesaurus words for "disintegration":
     abrasion, amiable weakness, atomization, attrition, beating,
     biodegradability, biodegradation, bloodbath, blue ruin,
     breakability, breakup, brecciation, brittleness, carnage,
     changeableness, collapse, comminution, consumption, corrosion,
     corruption, crack-up, crumbling, crushing, daintiness, damnation,
     deactivation, decay, decimation, decomposition, degradability,
     degradation, delicacy, demobilization, depredation, derangement,
     desolation, despoilment, despoliation, destructibility,
     destruction, detachment, detrition, devastation, diaspora,
     diffusion, dilapidation, disarrangement, disarray, disarticulation,
     disbandment, discomfiture, discomposure, disconcertedness,
     disharmony, dishevelment, disjunction, dismissal, disorder,
     disorderliness, disorganization, dispersal, dispersion,
     disproportion, disruption, dissolution, disturbance, effeminacy,
     entropy, exfoliation, flimsiness, fragility, fragmentation,
     frailty, frangibility, granulation, granulization, grating,
     grinding, haphazardness, havoc, hecatomb, holocaust, human frailty,
     incoherence, indecisiveness, indiscriminateness, infirmity of will,
     inharmonious harmony, inherent vice, irregularity, irresolution,
     levigation, lightness, mashing, mildew, mold, moral weakness,
     most admired disorder, nonsymmetry, nonuniformity, oxidation,
     oxidization, parting, perdition, perturbation, pounding, powdering,
     promiscuity, promiscuousness, randomness, ravage, release,
     resolution, revolution, ruin, ruination, rust, scaling, scattering,
     separation, shambles, shattering, shredding, slaughter, sleaziness,
     slightness, smashing, split-up, spoilage, spoliation, trituration,
     turbulence, undoing, unsubstantiality, unsymmetry, ununiformity,
     upset, vandalism, velleity, waste, wispiness, womanishness, wrack,
     wrack and ruin, wreck