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Glite Dictionary
💔 Losing unity 🧩 Breaking apart ☢️ Breaking by radiation
disintegration

disintegration

2 7.8
A radioactive atom breaks apart and gives off radiation
  • noun
  • /ˌdɪsɪnˈtɪɡreɪʃən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : desintegración radiactiva
  • Also of concern was the potential indirect impact of the disintegration of a sovereign, multiethnic federation.
  • disintegration of the Soviet
  • physical disintegration
  • political disintegration

Examples

  • If humanity fails to reach this goal, it will be impossible to reverse the ecological, social, and political disintegration.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Politicians and important popular figures suspect that it is an Israeli plan whose objective is to cause the disintegration of the Lebanese state.

    Academic text (2000)

  • The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the communist system is a milestone in world politics.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The disintegration of the Soviet Union, rather than resolving various claims to collective rights, only multiplied them.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Firstly, the former Soviet Union's disintegration has left a power vacuum, the corollary of which has been a movement from bipolarity to unipolarity.

    Academic text (1995)

  • The scientist observed that the disintegration of the radioactive material released significant ionizing radiation.

  • During the experiment, the disintegration of the element emitted particles that could be detected with specialized instruments.

  • The researchers focused on the disintegration of isotopes to understand the behavior of radioactive decay.

Synonyms

decay
vsdisintegration
  • Specialized
53 7.8

The process when a radioactive atom changes and gives off radiation

has identical meaning but uses a different term
radioactivity
vsdisintegration
  • Specialized
23 5.5

Release of tiny particles or rays from unstable atoms as they change

emphasizes the material splitting apart rather than only emitted particles or rays
radioactive decay
vsdisintegration
  • Specialized
3 6.0

An unstable atom's nucleus loses energy by giving off radiation

focuses on whole material breaking apart rather than nucleus energy loss

Antonyms

integration
47 4.0

Putting two or more parts together so they work as one

cohesion
21 4.8

The state of people or parts staying together and forming a whole

How Radioactive

disintegration
  • Specialized
2 7.8
radioactivity
  • Specialized
23 5.5
instability
114 5.1
stability
363 3.1

Surface Forms

disintegration singular
disintegrations plural

Morphology

disintegration = disintegrate (semi-transparent) = dis + integrate + ion

Formed from the verb 'disintegrate' + nominalizing suffix '-ion'; the verb itself is a transparent dis- + integrate composition meaning 'break apart'.

Etymology

Disintegration comes from the parts dis- meaning 'apart' and integrate from integer meaning 'whole', so it literally means 'not whole'. In science, this helps you remember radioactive disintegration because atoms break apart and release radiation, so the word describes that breaking process.