Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
taking apart

taking apart

1 8.7
To cut something, often a body, into separate pieces
  • noun
  • Offensive
translation icon : desmembramiento
  • The surgeon is known for his skill in taking apart complex body structures during operations.

Examples

  • Ann Althouse usually does a good job taking apart political speeches, and does so again.

    Blog text (15)

  • Reason also, and primarily, involves taking apart and putting together and their origins in first seeing things whole in some intelligible way.

    Academic text (2003)

  • My dad ripped the lock out of the door, leaving a big hole in it, and began taking apart the wood chunk by splintering it.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I've learned some things from taking apart old electronics, small cheap gizmos, and gadgets.

    Blog text (9)

  • After the battle, the soldiers began taking apart the wreckage of the enemy vehicles.

  • The mechanic specializes in taking apart old engines to salvage useful parts.

Synonyms

dissection
vstaking apart
  • Specialized
17 6.3

Cutting an animal or plant open to study its inside parts

focuses on cutting to remove limbs rather than cutting for study
dismemberment
vstaking apart
  • Offensive
14 8.7

Cutting a person, animal, or object into pieces

focuses on the physical act of cutting off limbs rather than the resulting state
severing
vstaking apart
  • NSFW
2 5.8

Cutting something so it becomes separate

is specifically about removing limbs and cutting a body into pieces
disarticulation
vstaking apart
  • Specialized
8.9

Separation of parts that are normally joined in a structure or machine

is about cutting and removing limbs rather than simple joint separation

Antonyms

repair
352 2.3

Work done to fix something that is broken

reassembly
2 4.9

Putting things taken apart back together

Surface Forms

taking apart singular
takings apart plural

Morphology

taking + apart

The meaning is directly built from 'taking' (an action) + 'apart' (into pieces), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would infer 'the act of separating or disassembling something into pieces.' The specific violent/dismembering nuance in the example is a specialized use but does not obscure the core, compositional sense, which is cross-linguistically common.

Etymology

The noun taking apart comes from the very literal idea of taking something apart, pulling or cutting it into pieces. Imagine a body or an object being removed piece by piece; that strong image is why the phrase means 'cutting into pieces' today.