Meaning & use

dissect

verb·Academic

To cut apart a body, plant, or organism carefully in order to study its structure.

See it in a sentence

Students dissected a frog in biology class to examine its internal organs.

The critic dissected the film scene by scene, analyzing every camera angle.

A note on using this word

Dissect is used literally in biology and medicine, and figuratively for examining something, like an argument or plan, in close detail.

Words with a similar meaning

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