Anatomized

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To experience a meticulous examination or dissection of parts
2. To undergo an in-depth analysis that reveals individual elements and their functions
3. Broken down into parts through physical dissection or careful separation ; carefully studied by dividing into constituent elements to understand structure or meaning

Etymology: The Greek roots of this word describe the act literally: "anatome" meant "a cutting up," built from "ana" (up) and "temnein" (to cut). Ancient Greek physicians used the word for dissecting bodies, and the idea of cutting something open to see what is inside stayed attached to it as it passed into Latin and then into the medieval Latin "anatomizare." English borrowed the verb from Middle French, appearing in Late Middle English as "anatomisen" with the meaning "to dissect in order to investigate." The sense of physically cutting a body apart gradually gave way to a figurative one: taking any complex whole apart piece by piece so its parts and how they work can be examined. The flexible suffix "-ize," which turns a noun into a verb meaning "to treat in the manner of," was attached to the noun "anatomy" to form the English verb.

Synonyms: dissected, examined, analyzed