Disintegrated

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Broken apart into smaller fragments due to damage or processes of decay
2. Transformed into discrete pieces as a result of destruction or degradation
3. Separated into individual pieces typically because of breaking down or collapse

Etymology: "Disintegrated" is the past tense and past participle of "disintegrate," which dates to 1785 in English. It is built from the prefix "dis-," meaning apart or asunder, and "integrate," which comes from the Latin "integrare," to make whole or renew, from "integer," meaning whole or untouched. Put together, the verb literally means to undo wholeness, breaking something into separate parts. The notable shift lies in the base word. "Integrate" was itself the older sense of making things whole, so "disintegrate" reverses a idea of combining into one. Its earliest uses were physical, describing things coming apart into fragments, and the sense has stayed close to that concrete image, applied to rock, matter, and structures as readily as to plans or groups of people.

Synonyms: fragmented, crumbled, dissolved, collapsed, shattered

Antonyms: unified, solidified, integrated, coalesced, reformed