deconstruct = 'refudiate'

[Jonathan Lighter]

It's close, but (maybe it's me) the connotations here are a bit less
metaphorical and a bit more intentional.

"Take apart"?  "Discredit"?

I suspect that "deconstruct" can now cover these and more.

JL
On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 9:44 PM, Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: deconstruct = 'refudiate'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > Hot off the presses:
> > http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100902/lf_nm_life/us_britain_hawking
> >
> > In his latest book, [Hawkings]  said the 1992 discovery of a planet
> orbiting
> > another star other than the Sun helped deconstruct the view of the father
> of
> > physics Isaac Newton that the universe could not have arisen out of chaos
> > but was created by God.
>
> The Merriam Webster online dictionary does list a fourth sense that
> seems to fit.
>
> deconstruct
> 4 : destroy, demolish <nations that are deconstructing themselves —
> Jim Hoagland>
>
> Centripetal accelerative forces are deconstructing the rigidly
> logo-centric neo-post-colonial interpretation of the token
> "deconstruct", clearly.
>
> Garson
>
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