Definition of "dehiscence" []

• Botany The spontaneous opening at maturity of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents. (noun)
• Medicine A rupture or splitting open, as of a surgical wound, or of an organ or structure to discharge its contents. (noun)

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.

• "You will find nothing but blunder and embarrassment result from any endeavour to enter into further particulars, such as "the relation of the dissepiment with respect to the valves of the capsule," etc., etc., since "in the various species of Veronica almost every kind of dehiscence may be observed" (C. under V. perfoliata, 1936, an"
• "It was the doctor's assistant who explained I had a skin condition called dehiscence, which means wounds tend to not stay closed."
• "Maggie has a history of her abdominal surgical wound breaking wide-the-frack open -- technical term: dehiscence -- and taking months, infected, pain-filled, pus-dripping agonizing months to heal. * shudders* Throughout the last two weeks, much much more than dying, dehiscence and cancer have been Maggie's major fears."