deconstruction
Use Deconstruction in a sentence
kənˈstrʌk noun
a philosophical and critical movement, starting in the 1960s and especially applied to the study of literature, that questions all traditional assumptions about the ability of language to represent reality and emphasizes that a text has no stable reference or identification because words essentially only refer to other words and therefore a reader must approach a text by eliminating any metaphysical or ethnocentric assumptions through an active role of defining meaning, sometimes by a reliance on new word construction, etymology, puns, and other word play.
Related forms
de·con·struc·tion·ist, adjective, noun
de·con·struc·tive, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To deconstruction
00:10
Deconstruction
is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
deconstruction (ˌdiːkənˈstrʌkʃən) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| a technique of literary analysis that regards meaning as resulting from the differences between words rather than their reference to the things they stand for. Different meanings are discovered by taking apart the structure of the language used and exposing the assumption that words have a fixed reference point beyond themselves | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
deconstruction
1973, as a strategy of critical analysis, in translations from Fr. of the works of philosopher Jacques Derrida (b.1930).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Cite This Source
Example sentences
He doesn't deconstruct his texts, he asks them to help him in the deconstruction of the philosophy in which they are implicated.
But a serious debate over the deconstruction of the city has never occurred.
Deconstruction is the dismantling of a structure in order to salvage, reuse, and recycle as much building materials as possible.
These lines of reasoning are nonsensical and do not deserve yet another deconstruction on a blog.
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