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dissection

UK/dɪˈsɛkʃən/US/dɪˈsɛkʃən/
nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,760 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: dissections

A dissection is the cutting open of a body to study its parts. A dissection class.

It is how anatomy was learnt for four centuries and is now partly replaced by scans and models. A dissection of an argument is the same word used of taking a case apart.

Allen Lew · CC BY 2.0

Definitions of dissection

  1. 1noundissectionThe cutting open of a body to study its parts.C1

    “The dissection took a whole term and taught more than any book.”

dissection is a procedure.

Where it comes from

Latin dissectio comes from dissecare, to cut apart, from dis plus secare, to cut.

  1. Middle French

    dissection

  2. Latin

    dissectio

  3. English, today

    dissection

Latin dissectio, perhaps via Middle French dissection. by surface analysis, dissect + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

dissection in the wild

  • Aortic dissection can quickly lead to death from insufficient blood flow to the heart or complete rupture of the aorta.

    Aortic dissection

  • Consequently, dissection is typically conducted in a morgue or in an anatomy lab.

    Dissection

  • A prosector is a person with the special task of preparing a dissection for demonstration, usually in medical schools or hospitals.

    Prosector

  • The term dissection may also be used to describe the act of cutting.

    Prosector

  • The creation of new dissection puzzles is also considered to be a type of dissection puzzle.

    Dissection puzzle

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • dissect