deconstruction (n.)

1973 as a strategy of critical analysis, in translations from French of the works of philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-2004). The word was used in English in a literal sense from 1865 of building and architecture, "a taking to pieces," and in late 1860s sometimes as an ironic variant of Reconstruction in the U.S. political sense. Related: Deconstructionism; deconstructionist.