different between disunite vs dissever

English

Etymology

dis- +? unite

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d?sju??na?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t

Verb

disunite (third-person singular simple present disunites, present participle disuniting, simple past and past participle disunited)

1. (transitive) To cause disagreement or alienation among or within.
   • 1516, Sir Thomas More, Utopia, "Of Their Military Discipline":

     If they cannot disunite them by domestic broils, then they engage their neighbours against them.

   • 1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash, ch. 44:

     Secrets disunite a family.

2. (transitive) To separate, sever, or split.
   • 1899, Robert Barr, Jennie Baxter, Journalist, ch. 16:

     I have discovered how to disunite that force and that particle.

3. (intransitive) To disintegrate; to come apart.
   • 1843, Robert Browning, A Blot In The 'Scutcheon, Act I:

     You cannot bind me more to you, my lord.

     Farewell till we renew... I trust, renew

     A converse ne'er to disunite again.

Related terms

• disunity

Translations

Anagrams

• nudities, unitised, untidies

Italian

Adjective

disunite f pl

1. feminine plural of disunito

Verb

disunite

1. second-person plural present indicative of disunire
2. second-person plural imperative of disunire
3. feminine plural of disunito

Anagrams

• induiste

English

Etymology

From Middle English disseveren, from Anglo-Norman desevrer, Old French dessevrer, from Vulgar Latin *diss?per?, diss?per?re, from Latin dis- + s?par?.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??s?v?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??s?v?/

Verb

dissever (third-person singular simple present dissevers, present participle dissevering, simple past and past participle dissevered)

1. To separate; to split apart.

   • The storm so dissevered the company […] that most of them never met again.

   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, I.16:

     Philosophers, Socrates continues, try to dissever the soul from communion with the body, whereas other people think that life is not worth living for a man who has ‘no sense of pleasure and no part in bodily pleasure’.

2. To divide into separate parts.

   If the bridge is destroyed, the shores are dissevered.

Related terms

• sever

Translations

Anagrams

• dervises, devisers, disserve