MEANING
1. To dissect a living animal for experimental investigation.
2. To examine or analyze with extreme, sometimes cruelly penetrating detail.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- vivisect an animal
- a vivisected specimen
On the page
The journal admitted that the specimen had been vivisected while conscious.
In the story, the laboratory’s defenders disputed whether the creature had been vivisected at all.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- vivisect
- Past tense
- vivisected
- Past participle
- vivisected
- Present participle
- vivisecting
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- vivisect
- Present continuous
- am/is/are vivisecting
- Present perfect
- have/has vivisected
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been vivisecting
- Past
- vivisected
- Past continuous
- was/were vivisecting
- Past perfect
- had vivisected
- Past perfect continuous
- had been vivisecting
- Future
- will vivisect
- Future continuous
- will be vivisecting
- Future perfect
- will have vivisected
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been vivisecting
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Explore related collections
Usage notes
Primary category: horror. Forms: vivisect; vivisects; vivisected; vivisected; vivisecting Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: vivisects.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.