disintegration

disintegration
    n 1: in a decomposed state [syn: {decomposition},
         {disintegration}]
    2: a loss (or serious disruption) of organization in some
       system; "a disintegration of personality"
    3: separation into component parts [syn: {dissolution},
       {disintegration}]
    4: the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive substance
       along with the emission of ionizing radiation [syn: {decay},
       {radioactive decay}, {disintegration}]
    5: total destruction; "bomb tests resulted in the annihilation
       of the atoll" [syn: {annihilation}, {disintegration}]
    

Disintegration \Dis*in`te*gra"tion\, n.
   (a) The process by which anything is disintegrated; the
       condition of anything which is disintegrated.
       Specifically
   (b) (Geol.) The wearing away or falling to pieces of rocks or
       strata, produced by atmospheric action, frost, ice, etc.
       [1913 Webster]

             Society had need of further disintegration before
             it could begin to reconstruct itself locally.
                                                  --Motley.
       [1913 Webster]
    

145 Moby Thesaurus words for "disintegration":
      abrasion, amiable weakness, atomization, attrition, beating,
      biodegradability, biodegradation, bloodbath, blue ruin,
      breakability, breakup, brecciation, brittleness, carnage,
      changeableness, collapse, comminution, consumption, corrosion,
      corruption, crack-up, crumbling, crushing, daintiness, damnation,
      deactivation, decay, decimation, decomposition, degradability,
      degradation, delicacy, demobilization, depredation, derangement,
      desolation, despoilment, despoliation, destructibility,
      destruction, detachment, detrition, devastation, diaspora,
      diffusion, dilapidation, disarrangement, disarray, disarticulation,
      disbandment, discomfiture, discomposure, disconcertedness,
      disharmony, dishevelment, disjunction, dismissal, disorder,
      disorderliness, disorganization, dispersal, dispersion,
      disproportion, disruption, dissolution, disturbance, effeminacy,
      entropy, exfoliation, flimsiness, fragility, fragmentation,
      frailty, frangibility, granulation, granulization, grating,
      grinding, haphazardness, havoc, hecatomb, holocaust, human frailty,
      incoherence, indecisiveness, indiscriminateness, infirmity of will,
      inharmonious harmony, inherent vice, irregularity, irresolution,
      levigation, lightness, mashing, mildew, mold, moral weakness,
      most admired disorder, nonsymmetry, nonuniformity, oxidation,
      oxidization, parting, perdition, perturbation, pounding, powdering,
      promiscuity, promiscuousness, randomness, ravage, release,
      resolution, revolution, ruin, ruination, rust, scaling, scattering,
      separation, shambles, shattering, shredding, slaughter, sleaziness,
      slightness, smashing, split-up, spoilage, spoliation, trituration,
      turbulence, undoing, unsubstantiality, unsymmetry, ununiformity,
      upset, vandalism, velleity, waste, wispiness, womanishness, wrack,
      wrack and ruin, wreck