online medical dictionary | definition of dissolution

1. The act of dissolving, sundering, or separating into component parts; separation. "Dissolutions of ancient amities." (Shak)

2. Change from a solid to a fluid state; solution by heat or moisture; liquefaction; melting.

3. Change of form by chemical agency; decomposition; resolution. "The dissolution of the compound." (South)

4. The dispersion of an assembly by terminating its sessions; the breaking up of a partnership. "Dissolution is the civil death of Parliament." (Blackstone)

5. The extinction of life in the human body; separation of the soul from the body; death. "We expected Immediate dissolution." (Milton)

6. The state of being dissolved, or of undergoing liquefaction. "A man of continual dissolution and thaw." (Shak)

7. The new product formed by dissolving a body; a solution.

8. Destruction of anything by the separation of its parts; ruin. "To make a present dissolution of the world." (Hooker)

9. Corruption of morals; dissipation; dissoluteness.

Origin: OE. Dissolucioun dissoluteness, F. Dissolution, fr. L. Dissolutio, fr. Dissolvere. See Dissolve.

(01 Mar 1998)