Library / English Dictionary

DETACH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to become detached or separated; take off

Example:

detach the skin from the chicken before you eat it

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "detach" is one way to...):

disconnect (make disconnected, disjoin or unfasten)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "detach"):

break; break off; snap off (break a piece from a whole)

unbind (untie or unfasten)

unhook (take off a hook)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Antonym:

attach (cause to be attached)

Derivation:

detachment (the act of releasing from an attachment or connection)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come to be detached

Example:

His retina detached and he had to be rushed into surgery

Synonyms:

come away; come off; detach

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "detach" is one way to...):

divide; part; separate (come apart)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "detach"):

blow off (come off due to an explosion or other strong force)

chop off; cut off; lop off (remove by or as if by cutting)

unsolder (remove the soldering from)

fall off (come off)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Antonym:

attach (become attached)

Derivation:

detachment (coming apart)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Separate (a small unit) from a larger, especially for a special assignment

Example:

detach a regiment

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "detach" is one way to...):

divide; separate (make a division or separation)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

detachment (a small unit of troops of special composition)

Credits

 Context examples: 

She would notice her; she would improve her; she would detach her from her bad acquaintance, and introduce her into good society; she would form her opinions and her manners.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

William and Fanny were the most detached.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The natural process whereby the placenta detaches from the uterus.

(Delivery of Placenta, NCI Thesaurus)

A type of osteochondritis in which articular cartilage and associated bone becomes partially or totally detached to form joint loose bodies.

(Osteochondritis Dissecans, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

As apoptotic endothelial cells detach from their substrata, tumor blood vessels collapse; the acute disruption of tumor blood flow may result in tumor necrosis.

(Carbon C 14 Ombrabulin, NCI Thesaurus)

When marine organisms ingest these microplastics, the pollutant particles get detached from them, contaminating organisms' tissues and harming their nervous and hormonal systems.

(Microplastic pollution adds to oceans’ problems, scidev.net)

Mutant merlin proteins alter cell adhesion, causing cells to detach from the substratum, a possible step in the pathogenesis of NF2.

(Merlin, NCI Thesaurus)

The air was thick with flying wreckage, detached ropes and stays were hissing and coiling like snakes, and down through it all crashed the gaff of the foresail.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“Look at that young lady with the white beads round her head,” whispered Catherine, detaching her friend from James.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

He worked on in the daze, strangely detached from the world around him, feeling like a familiar ghost among these literary trappings of his former life.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)