"deconstruct" = criticize so as to discredit; debunk.

[Jonathan Lighter]

Another relevant ex.:

2007 Damon Salesa in _Pacific Historical Review_  LXXVI (No. 1) 98:
Obeyeskere calls his critical approach "deconstruction," although in
practice it reads more like debunking. ...Certain texts and authors are
also misunderstood or misrepresented. ...Accounts [of cannibalism] are
debunked for almost every reason, some for lacking, mistaken, or confusing
details, others for too much detail; "extreme accuracy" and "stunning
verisimilitude" become suspicious - indications of fiction.

JL
On Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 5:15 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "deconstruct" = criticize so as to discredit; debunk.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Nothing I see in MW 11 quite covers this, though "demolish, destroy" comes
> closest:
>
> 1998 Paul Tatara _Review: Saving Pivate Ryan_
> [http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9807/24/review.saving.private.ryan/]:
> This grab-bag sampling of The Great Melting Pot is a staple of the kind of
> war movie that Spielberg is supposed to be deconstructing.
>
> --
> "There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
> Platypus"
>
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