dismantle

English

Etymology

From Middle French desmanteler, itself from des- (“dis-”), mantel (“coat”) + -er (verbal suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪsˈmæntəl/
• (UK) IPA^(key): [dɪsˈmæntʰəɫ]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (Cockney) IPA^(key): [dɪsˈmænʔəɫ]
• (US) IPA^(key): [dɪsˈmæ̃nɾɫ̩], [dɪsˈmæ̃nɫ̩]
• Rhymes: -æntəl

Verb

dismantle (third-person singular simple present dismantles, present participle dismantling, simple past and past participle dismantled)

1. (transitive, originally) To divest, strip of dress or covering.
   • c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     This is most ſtrange, that ſhe, who even but now
     Was your beſt object, the argument of your praiſe,
     Balme of your age, moſt beſt, moſt deereſt,
     Should in this trice of time commit a thing
     So monſtrous, to diſmantell ſo many foulds of fauour, […]

2. (transitive) To remove fittings or furnishings from.
3. (transitive) To take apart; to disassemble; to take to pieces.
   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 188, number 23, page 19:

     In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. Essential public services are cut so that the rich may pay less tax.

4. (transitive) To disprove a discourse, claim or argument.
   • 2001, Jeffrey Morgan, “The Rhetoric of Hate”, in Learning for Justice, number 20:

     If we can dismantle hate rhetoric and explain why it is, in fact, illogical, is the language no longer dangerous?

Derived terms

• dismantlable
• dismantlement
• dismantler
• use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house

Translations

divest

• Bulgarian: събличам (bg) (sǎbličam)
• Dutch: uitkleden (nl)
• Finnish: riisua (fi)
• German: entmanteln (cable), entblättern (de) (humorously)
• Ido: nudigar (io)
• Japanese: 脱がせる (ja) (ぬがせる, nugaseru)
• Russian: раздева́ть (ru) impf (razdevátʹ), разде́ть (ru) pf (razdétʹ)
• Swedish: avkläda (sv), avkraga (sv), klä av (sv), ta av (sv)

remove fittings or furnishings

• Bulgarian: оголвам (bg) (ogolvam), разоборудвам (razoborudvam)
• Finnish: riisua (fi)
• German: abwracken (de), ausschlachten (de) (coll.)
• Greek: απογυμνώνω (el) (apogymnóno)
• Russian: разбира́ть (ru) impf (razbirátʹ), разобра́ть (ru) pf (razobrátʹ)
• Swedish: nedmontera (sv), demontera (sv)

take apart

• Armenian: քանդել (hy) (kʻandel), ապամոնտաժել (hy) (apamontažel)
• Bulgarian: разглобявам (bg) (razglobjavam)
• Catalan: desmuntar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 拆 (caak³)

  Mandarin: 拆卸 (zh) (chāixiè), 拆開／拆开 (zh) (chāikāi), 拆下 (zh) (chāixià)

• Dutch: afbreken (nl), demonteren (nl), ontmantelen (nl)
• Finnish: purkaa osiin, purkaa (fi), hajottaa (fi)
• French: démonter (fr), démanteler (fr)
• German: demontieren (de), auseinandernehmen (de)
• Greek: αποσυναρμολογώ (el) (aposynarmologó), ξεμοντάρω (el) (xemontáro)
• Hebrew: לפרק (lefareq)
• Hungarian: szétszed (hu)
• Ingrian: hajottaa
• Italian: smontare (it)
• Japanese: 分解する (ja) (ぶんかいする, bunkai suru)
• Maori: whakahoro
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: demontere

  Nynorsk: demontere

• Polish: rozłożyć (pl) pf, rozkładać (pl) impf, rozebrać (pl) pf, rozbierać (pl) impf, rozmontować pf
• Portuguese: desmontar (pt), desmantelar, desfazer (pt), desmanchar (pt)
• Rapa Nui: kumekume
• Russian: разбира́ть (ru) impf (razbirátʹ), разобра́ть (ru) pf (razobrátʹ), демонти́ровать (ru) impf or pf (demontírovatʹ)
• Spanish: desmontar (es), desensamblar (es)
• Swedish: avveckla (sv), isärtaga, ta isär, demontera (sv), nedmontera (sv)
• ǃXóõ: khàla

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• dentalism