Definition of "disintegrate" []

• To become reduced to components, fragments, or particles. (verb-intransitive)
• To lose cohesion or unity: pressures that cause families to disintegrate (verb-intransitive)
• Physics & Chemistry To decompose, decay, or undergo a nuclear transformation. (verb-intransitive)
• To cause to disintegrate. See Synonyms at decay. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He created the Cabinet positions of Energy and Education, yet saw his one term disintegrate due to lack of experience."
• "The best way to cause a country to disintegrate is to create unrest in all spheres and in Pakistan's case this has already happened, violence in the name of religion, sect, province and class along with an aid dependent economy and power and food shortages."
• "The point being, it's firmly established that the Iraqi army didn't just "disintegrate," but rather was disbanded by the US."