Dissevers

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Divides or separates something by cutting it apart
2. Severs a connection or part of something by making a cut
3. Splits or separates an object or connection through cutting

Etymology: "Dissevers" is the third-person singular present form of "dissever", so it is the form of a verb meaning to cut something apart or sever it into pieces. The verb it belongs to is an old one with a Latin core: the prefix "dis-", meaning apart, joined "sēparō", "to separate" (the source of the modern "separate"). That pairing produced a Vulgar Latin verb, "dissēperāre", which passed into Old French as "dessevrer" and reached English through Anglo-Norman as the Middle English "disseveren". The sense of the root is still plain in the verb: "dis-" pulls the action outward, so to dissever is to pull things apart by cutting or breaking them. English thus reached for two Latin pieces meaning apart and separate, and then took its verb through French, leaving "dissever" as a near-twin of "sever".

Synonyms: severs, cuts, splits

Antonyms: joins, unites