deconstruction

de- +‎ construction

• (UK) IPA^(key): /diːkənˈstɹʌkʃən/, /diːkənˈstɹʊkʃən/

deconstruction (countable and uncountable, plural deconstructions)

1. (philosophy, literature) A philosophical theory of textual criticism; a form of critical analysis that emphasizes inquiry into the variable projection of the meaning and message of critical works, the meaning in relation to the reader and the intended audience, and the assumptions implicit in the embodied forms of expression.
2. The destroying or taking apart of an object; disassembly.
   • 1865, John Blenkarn, Practical specifications of works executed in architecture, civil and mechanical engineering, page 47:

     He shall be empowered to require the immediate deconstruction and re-execution to his satisfaction of any such work as may appear to him to have been executed improperly […]

   • 1882 June 1, “Home Rule”, in The Nineteenth Century‎, page 859:

     A group of men demand a reform the beginning of which must be a work of deconstruction, if I may use such a word.

• deconstruct

• deconstructional
• deconstructionism
• deconstructionist