DISMANTLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dismantle mean? 

• DISMANTLE (verb)
  The verb DISMANTLE has 3 senses:

1. tear down so as to make flat with the ground

2. take apart into its constituent pieces

3. take off or remove

  Familiarity information: DISMANTLE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISMANTLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dismantle    ... he / she / it dismantles   
Past simple: dismantled   
Past participle: dismantled   
-ing form: dismantling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tear down so as to make flat with the ground

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

dismantle; level; pull down; rase; raze; take down; tear down

Context example:

The building was levelled

Hypernyms (to "dismantle" is one way to...):

destroy; destruct (do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dismantle"):

bulldoze (flatten with or as if with a bulldozer)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take apart into its constituent pieces

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

break apart; break up; disassemble; dismantle; take apart

Hypernyms (to "dismantle" is one way to...):

destroy; destruct (do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "dismantle"):

strike (disassemble a temporary structure, such as a tent or a theatrical set)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

dismantlement; dismantling (the act of taking something apart (as a piece of machinery))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Take off or remove

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

dismantle; strip

Context example:

strip a wall of its wallpaper

Hypernyms (to "dismantle" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Think about your goals, and start to dismantle the parts that no longer excite you.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

But now that peace had come, and the fleets which had swept the Channel and the Mediterranean were lying dismantled in our harbours, there was less to draw one’s fancy seawards.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I went round to my employer, found him in the same dismantled kind of room, and was told to keep at it until Wednesday, and then come again.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The furniture was scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before her flight.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The summer camp was being dismantled, and the tribe, bag and baggage, was preparing to go off to the fall hunting.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“When I dismantled my old Pantheon and cast out Napoleon and Cæsar and their fellows, I straightway erected a new Pantheon,” she answered gravely, “and the first I installed was Dr. Jordan.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)