as in to analyze
to identify and examine the basic elements or parts of (something) especially for discovering interrelationships if you anatomize the problem, you'll see it stems from a combination of her bad behavior and your unwillingness to speak to her about it
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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of anatomize The critic will anatomize the subject from several angles. —
WIRED, 23 Feb. 2023 Her article deftly anatomizes Russia’s failures, but also goes into alarming depth about how the military leadership can call on hundreds of thousands of recruits, and better exploit the resources of a vast country to inflict greater pain on Ukraine. —David Remnick, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2023 All of these exhibitions leave one feeling slightly guilty: The curators try to anatomize how power works, the strategies of mythmaking and image management, but the material on view is so seductive one forgets the larger intellectual construct. —Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 30 Dec. 2022 The film joins countless other creative efforts to understand and anatomize the movie star born Norma Jeane Mortensen, including biopics, TV series, biographies, photo books, essays, and even plays. —Nathan Smith, Vulture, 23 Sep. 2022 In The Rings of Saturn, W. G. Sebald anatomizes this depiction of a celebrated anatomy lesson, observing the improbably formal clothing of the men surrounding the prone cadaver, who wear opulent lace ruffs, while Tulp himself sports a wide-brimmed and high-crowned hat. —Will Self, Harper's Magazine, 12 Sep. 2022 And some of it was a compulsive need to re-define and re-anatomize what Carmichael and Hamilton had already defined and anatomized so well. —Samanth Subramanian, Quartz, 1 Apr. 2021 Kundera, meanwhile, made his career on novels that anatomized kitsch and subsequently became kitsch, thanks to a generation of earnest high schoolers. —Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 9 Oct. 2019 This is just one of many intergenerational failings that Kafka anatomizes. —Jeremy Eichler, BostonGlobe.com, 18 June 2018
WIRED, 23 Feb. 2023 Her article deftly anatomizes Russia’s failures, but also goes into alarming depth about how the military leadership can call on hundreds of thousands of recruits, and better exploit the resources of a vast country to inflict greater pain on Ukraine. —David Remnick, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2023 All of these exhibitions leave one feeling slightly guilty: The curators try to anatomize how power works, the strategies of mythmaking and image management, but the material on view is so seductive one forgets the larger intellectual construct. —Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 30 Dec. 2022 The film joins countless other creative efforts to understand and anatomize the movie star born Norma Jeane Mortensen, including biopics, TV series, biographies, photo books, essays, and even plays. —Nathan Smith, Vulture, 23 Sep. 2022 In The Rings of Saturn, W. G. Sebald anatomizes this depiction of a celebrated anatomy lesson, observing the improbably formal clothing of the men surrounding the prone cadaver, who wear opulent lace ruffs, while Tulp himself sports a wide-brimmed and high-crowned hat. —Will Self, Harper's Magazine, 12 Sep. 2022 And some of it was a compulsive need to re-define and re-anatomize what Carmichael and Hamilton had already defined and anatomized so well. —Samanth Subramanian, Quartz, 1 Apr. 2021 Kundera, meanwhile, made his career on novels that anatomized kitsch and subsequently became kitsch, thanks to a generation of earnest high schoolers. —Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 9 Oct. 2019 This is just one of many intergenerational failings that Kafka anatomizes. —Jeremy Eichler, BostonGlobe.com, 18 June 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for anatomize
Verb
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This article was generated by the Bay Area Home Report Bot, software that analyzes home sales or other data and creates an article based on a template created by humans.— Bay Area Home Report, Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2026
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Celonis analyzed the 5,000 delivery runs a day the brewery was executing, worked out how to make the runs more efficient, and reduced the number of journeys by 17%.— Kamal Ahmed, Fortune, 23 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Lenee has been getting the full internet treatment ever since Hunter became one of the biggest stars in college football, with fans dissecting her every move.— Amber Harding OutKick, FOXNews.com, 23 Apr. 2026
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Instead of dissecting another unicorn performance from Jokic, the discussion focused on how Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert won the one-on-one matchup.— Troy Renck, Denver Post, 21 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Additional divers from the Japan Coast Guard further examined the ship.— CBS News, CBS News, 22 Apr. 2026
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His latest work, The Urgency of Indigenous Values—available via JSTOR’s Path to Open program—not only examines the origins, wisdom, and pertinence of Haudenosaunee beliefs, but also confronts the inherent limitations of such examination.— Tim Brinkhof, JSTOR Daily, 22 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Anatomize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.grautoblog.com/thesaurus/anatomize. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
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