dissolution

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
dissolution
    n 1: separation into component parts [syn: {dissolution},
         {disintegration}]
    2: the process of going into solution; "the dissolving of salt
       in water" [syn: {dissolving}, {dissolution}]
    3: dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure [syn: {profligacy},
       {dissipation}, {dissolution}, {licentiousness}, {looseness}]
    4: the termination of a meeting [syn: {adjournment},
       {dissolution}]
    5: the termination or disintegration of a relationship (between
       persons or nations) [syn: {dissolution}, {breakup}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Dissolution \Dis`so*lu"tion\, n. [OE. dissolucioun
   dissoluteness, F. dissolution, fr. L. dissolutio, fr.
   dissolvere. See {Dissolve}.]
   1. The act of dissolving, sundering, or separating into
      component parts; separation.
      [1913 Webster]

            Dissolutions of ancient amities.      --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Change from a solid to a fluid state; solution by heat or
      moisture; liquefaction; melting.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Change of form by chemical agency; decomposition;
      resolution.
      [1913 Webster]

            The dissolution of the compound.      --South.
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   4. The dispersion of an assembly by terminating its sessions;
      the breaking up of a partnership.
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            Dissolution is the civil death of Parliament.
                                                  --Blackstone.
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   5. The extinction of life in the human body; separation of
      the soul from the body; death.
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            We expected
            Immediate dissolution.                --Milton.
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   6. The state of being dissolved, or of undergoing
      liquefaction.
      [1913 Webster]

            A man of continual dissolution and thaw. --Shak.
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   7. The new product formed by dissolving a body; a solution.
      --Bacon.
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   8. Destruction of anything by the separation of its parts;
      ruin.
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            To make a present dissolution of the world.
                                                  --Hooker.
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   9. Corruption of morals; dissipation; dissoluteness. [Obs. or
      R.] --Atterbury.
      [1913 Webster]
    
from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
DISSOLUTION, contracts. The dissolution of a contract, is the annulling its 
effects between the contracting parties. 
     2. This dissolution of a partnership, is the putting an end to the 
partnership. Its dissolution does not affect contracts made between the. 
partners and others; so that they are entitled to all their rights, and they 
are liable on their obligations, as if the partnership had not been 
dissolved. Vide article Partnership and 3 Kent, Com. 27 Dane's Ab. h.t.; 
Gow on Partn. Index, h.t.; Wats. on Partn. h.t.; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t. 
    
from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
DISSOLUTION, practice. The act of rendering a legal proceeding null, or 
changing its character; as, a foreign attachment in Pennsylvania is: 
dissolved by entering bail to the action. Injunctions are dissolved by the 
court. 
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
208 Moby Thesaurus words for "dissolution":
      ablation, adjournment, aloofness, anarchy, annihilation,
      atomization, attrition, bane, biodegradability, biodegradation,
      biological death, blackout, blocking, bloodbath, blue ruin,
      breakdown, breaking down, breaking up, breakup, carnage,
      cessation of life, chaos, clinical death, collapse, colliquation,
      conclusion, confusion, consumption, corrosion, corruption,
      crack-up, crossing the bar, crumbling, curtains, damnation,
      deactivation, death, death knell, debt of nature, decay, decease,
      decimation, decoagulation, decomposition, decrement, degradability,
      degradation, deliquescence, deliquium, dematerialization, demise,
      demobilization, departure, depletion, depredation, desolation,
      despoilment, despoliation, destruction, detachment, devastation,
      diaspora, diffusion, dilapidation, disappearance, disappearing,
      disbandment, discontinuation, discontinuity, discreteness,
      disintegration, disjunction, dislocation, dismissal, disorder,
      disorganization, dispersal, dispersion, disruption, dissipation,
      dissolving, disunion, division, divorce, divorcement, doom, dying,
      ebb of life, eclipse, elimination, end, end of life, ending,
      entropy, erasure, erosion, eternal rest, evanescence, evaporation,
      exfoliation, exhaustion, exit, expiration, extinction,
      extinguishment, fadeaway, fadeout, fading, final summons,
      finger of death, finish, fluidification, fluidization,
      fragmentation, fusing, fusion, going, going off, grave,
      hand of death, havoc, hecatomb, holocaust, incoherence,
      inconsistency, jaws of death, knell, last debt, last muster,
      last rest, last roundup, last sleep, leaching, leaving life,
      liquefaction, liquescence, liquescency, lixiviation, loss,
      loss of life, making an end, melting, mildew, mold, nonadhesion,
      noncohesion, occultation, overthrow, oxidation, oxidization,
      parting, partition, passing, passing away, passing over,
      percolation, perdition, perishing, quietus, ravage,
      ravages of time, release, resolution, rest, revolution, reward,
      ruin, ruination, running, rupture, rust, scaling, scattering,
      sentence of death, separateness, separation, shades of death,
      shadow of death, shambles, shattering, shrinkage, silence,
      slaughter, sleep, solubilization, solution, somatic death,
      split-up, spoilage, spoliation, summons of death, termination,
      thawing, unadherence, unadhesiveness, unclotting, undoing,
      untenacity, vandalism, vanishing, vanishing point, waste, wear,
      wear and tear, wipe, wrack, wrack and ruin, wreck

    

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