Etymologically
Log in

dissolution

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 02:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌdɪsəˈl(j)uːʃən/[1]
  • US: /ˌdɪsəˈluʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dissolucioun,[2][3][4] partly borrowed from Old French dissolution, recorded from the 12th century,[5][6] and partly taken directly from Latin dissolūtiō (“a dissolving, destroying, interruption”),[5][6][7] the noun of action from dissolūtus, the past participle of dissolvō (“to loosen up, break apart”),[6][7][8] from dis- (“apart”) and solvō (“to loosen, untie”).[6] Its Anglo-Norman form, dissolucion, recorded from 1212, already had the senses of breaking up, dissolving an assembly such as Parliament, and dissolute behaviour.[9] It is related to dissolve and dissolute.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Laxity of behaviour, frivolity or dissolute living, from the mid-14th century according to Etymonline;[6][2] the OED's first record, before 1398 in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, is for separation into parts or elements, disintegration.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Around 1400 the word could also mean a harmful weakening or softening of the body, a sense the OED records until 1684.[5][8] The sense of dissolute living is now archaic.[5][10] In the 16th century it took on the senses that are now most common: the breaking up of an assembly or association, from 1535, in an Act of Henry VIII,[5][6] including the dissolution of the monasteries;[5] the undoing of a bond or union, from 1548;[5] and the end or ruin of something, from 1528.[5] It was also used for death from the 1520s or 1530s,[6][5] perhaps, according to Etymonline, from the idea of the soul separating from the body.[6] The chemical senses, the dissolving of something in a liquid (1558) and melting (in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor),[5][6] came first in Johnson's dictionary of 1755,[11] but the OED now calls the sense of dissolving in a liquid rare.[5]

Timeline

  • mid-14th century – laxity, dissolute living.[6]
  • before 1398 – separation into parts, disintegration.[5]
  • c. 1400 – harmful weakening, enfeeblement (obsolete by 1684).[5]
  • 1528 – ending, destruction, ruin.[5]
  • 1535 – the breaking up of an assembly or association.[5][6]
  • before 1535 – death.[5]
  • 1548 – the undoing of a bond or union.[5]
  • 1558 – the dissolving of something in a liquid.[5]
  • 1755 – Johnson defines it first as liquefying by heat or moisture.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The formal ending of an assembly, partnership, marriage or other association: the dissolution of Parliament.[10][5][4]
  2. Breaking up or disintegration; decay or ruin: The scandal hastened the dissolution of the alliance.[10][5][4]
  3. Separation into component parts.[10][5][4]
  4. Death.[4][5]
  5. The act or process of dissolving in a liquid.[10][5]
  6. (archaic) Dissoluteness; dissipated living.[10][5]
  7. (obsolete, c. 1400–1684) A harmful weakening or softening; enfeeblement.[5][8]

Word family

  • dissolutive
  • nondissolution
  • predissolution
  • redissolution

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.