deconstruct

de con struct |ˌdēkənˈstrəkt ˌdikənˈstrəkt | ▶verb [ with obj. ] analyze (a text or a linguistic or conceptual system ) by deconstruction, typically in order to expose its hidden internal assumptions and contradictions and subvert its apparent significance or unity. • reduce (something ) to its constituent parts in order to reinterpret it: do we need to deconstruct all the institutions that we've created in order to improve them? DERIVATIVES de con struc tive |-tiv |adjective ORIGIN late 19th cent.: back-formation from deconstruction .

deconstruction

de con struc tion |ˌdēkənˈstrəkSHən ˌdikənˈstrəkʃən | ▶noun a method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language that emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality of meaning, and the assumptions implicit in forms of expression. Deconstruction focuses on a text as such rather than as an expression of the author's intention, stressing the limitlessness (or impossibility ) of interpretation and rejecting the Western philosophical tradition of seeking certainty through reasoning by privileging certain types of interpretation and repressing others. It was effectively named and popularized by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida from the late 1960s and taken up particularly by US literary critics. DERIVATIVES de con struc tion ism |-ˌnizəm |noun, de con struc tion ist |-ist |adjective & noun ORIGIN late 19th cent. (originally in the general sense ‘taking to pieces ’): from de- (expressing reversal ) + construction .

deconstruct

deconstruct |ˌdiːk (ə )nˈstrʌkt | ▶verb [ with obj. ] analyse (a text or linguistic or conceptual system ) by deconstruction. • reduce (something ) to its constituent parts in order to reinterpret it: I want to deconstruct this myth that poverty breeds crime. DERIVATIVES deconstructive adjective ORIGIN late 19th cent.: back-formation from deconstruction .

deconstruction

de |con |struc ¦tion |diːk (ə )nˈstrʌkʃ (ə )n | ▶noun [ mass noun ] a method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language which emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality of meaning, and the assumptions implicit in forms of expression. Deconstruction focuses on a text as such rather than as an expression of the author's intention, stressing the limitlessness (or impossibility ) of interpretation and rejecting the Western philosophical tradition of seeking certainty through reasoning by privileging certain types of interpretation and repressing others. It was effectively named and popularized by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida from the late 1960s and taken up particularly by US literary critics. DERIVATIVES deconstructionism noun, deconstructionist adjective & noun ORIGIN late 19th cent. (originally in the general sense ‘taking to pieces ’): from de- (expressing reversal ) + construction .

deconstruction

deconstruction noun WORD NOTE See haiku. Conversational, opinionated, and idiomatic, these Word Notes are an opportunity to see a working writer's perspective on a particular word or usage.

deconstruct

de con struct /dìːk (ə )nstrʌ́kt /動詞 他動詞 〘哲 〙〈思想 作品など 〉を分析批評する, …を脱構築する, …の矛盾をつく .

deconstruction

d è con str ú c tion 名詞 U 〘文学 〙(作品などの )分析批評 ; 脱構築, デコンストラクション .～ì sm 名詞