Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense dismembers, present participle dismembering, past tense, past participle dismembered
1. verb
To dismember the body of a dead person or animal means to cut or pull it into pieces.
Police denied reports that the body had been dismembered. [VERB noun]
His dismembered body was found in a rubbish bin. [VERB-ed]
Synonyms: cut into pieces, divide, rend [literary], sever More Synonyms of dismember
2. verb
To dismember a country or organization means to break it up into smaller parts.
...Hitler's plans to occupy and dismember Czechoslovakia. [VERB noun]
Many investors must be hoping that he will be dethroned, his publishing empire dismembered. [VERB noun]
More Synonyms of dismember
dismember in British English
(dɪsˈmɛmbə)
verb(transitive)
1.
to remove the limbs or members of
2.
to cut to pieces
3.
to divide or partition (something, such as an empire)
Derived forms
dismemberer (disˈmemberer)
noun
dismemberment (disˈmemberment)
noun
dismember in American English
(dɪsˈmɛmbər)
verb transitive
1.
to remove the limbs of by cutting or tearing
2.
to pull or cut to pieces; separate into parts; divide up or mutilate
Derived forms
dismemberment (disˈmemberment)
noun
Word origin
ME dismembren < OFr desmembrer: see di-1 & member
Examples of 'dismember' in a sentence
dismember
He admits obstructing the coroner by dismembering a body.
The Sun (2016)
They dismembered the animal and cooked its meat over an open fire.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Her dismembered body was found in a house near by.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Perhaps the intellectual prestige of the British declined as their empire was dismembered.
The Times Literary Supplement (2014)
February 2001 Her dismembered body is found in a cave.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
An exceptionally creepy two-parter begins tonight with various crudely dismembered body parts of young women getting washed up in the Thames or chewed by urban foxes.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
In other languages
dismember
British English: dismember VERB
To dismember the body of a dead person or animal means to cut or pull it into pieces.
He then dismembered her, hiding parts of her body in the cellar.
American English: dismember
Brazilian Portuguese: desmembrar
Chinese: 肢解
European Spanish: desmembrar
French: démembrer
German: zerstückeln
Italian: smembrare
Japanese: 手足を切断する
Korean: 주검을 훼손하다
European Portuguese: desmembrar
Latin American Spanish: desmembrar
1 (verb)
Definition
to cut to pieces
He dismembered the body and buried it.
Synonyms
cut into pieces
divide
rend (literary)
pain that rends the heart
sever
Oil was still gushing from the severed fuel line.
mutilate
His arm was mutilated in an industrial accident.
dissect
We dissected a frog in biology.
dislocate
amputate
disjoint
anatomize
a series of novels anatomizing contemporary mores
dislimb
2 (verb)
his publishing empire was dismembered
Synonyms
break up
Additional synonyms
in the sense of anatomize
a series of novels anatomizing contemporary mores
Synonyms
examine,
study,
separate,
divide,
resolve,
break down,
analyse,
dissolve,
dissect,
scrutinize
in the sense of dissect
Definition
to cut open (a corpse) to examine it
We dissected a frog in biology.
Synonyms
cut up or apart,
dismember,
lay open,
anatomize
in the sense of mutilate
Definition
to injure by tearing or cutting off a limb or essential part