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dissolve (v.)

late 14c. dissolven, "to break up, disunite, separate into parts" (transitive, of material substances), also "to liquefy by the disintegrating action of a fluid," also intransitive, "become fluid, be converted from a solid to a liquid state," from Latin dissolvere "to loosen up, break apart," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + solvere "to loosen, untie," from PIE *se-lu-, from reflexive pronoun *s(w)e- (see idiom) + root *leu- "to loosen, divide, cut apart."

General sense of "to melt, liquefy by means of heat or moisture" is from late 14c. Meaning "to disband" (a parliament or an assembly) is attested from early 15c. Related: Dissolved; dissolving.

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Definitions of dissolve from WordNet
1
dissolve (v.)
become weaker;
Synonyms: fade out / fade away
dissolve (v.)
cause to go into a solution;
The recipe says that we should dissolve a cup of sugar in two cups of water
Synonyms: resolve / break up
dissolve (v.)
come to an end;
Their marriage dissolved
Synonyms: break up
dissolve (v.)
stop functioning or cohering as a unit;
The political wing of the party dissolved after much internal fighting
Synonyms: disband
dissolve (v.)
cause to lose control emotionally;
The news dissolved her into tears
dissolve (v.)
lose control emotionally;
She dissolved into tears when she heard that she had lost all her savings in the pyramid scheme
dissolve (v.)
cause to fade away;
dissolve a shot or a picture
dissolve (v.)
pass into a solution;
The sugar quickly dissolved in the coffee
dissolve (v.)
become or cause to become soft or liquid;
The giant iceberg dissolved over the years during the global warming phase
Synonyms: thaw / unfreeze / unthaw / dethaw / melt
dissolve (v.)
bring the association of to an end or cause to break up;
the judge dissolved the tobacco company
The decree officially dissolved the marriage
Synonyms: break up
dissolve (v.)
declare void;
The President dissolved the parliament and called for new elections
Synonyms: dismiss
2
dissolve (n.)
(film) a gradual transition from one scene to the next; the next scene is gradually superimposed as the former scene fades out;
From wordnet.princeton.edu