# dissolve

> English word · Verb · IPA /dɪˈzɒlv/ · frequency rank #15,148

## Definitions
1. To terminate a union of multiple members actively, as by disbanding.
2. To destroy, make disappear.
3. To liquify, melt into a fluid.
4. To be melted, changed into a fluid.
5. To disintegrate chemically into a solution by immersion into a liquid or other material.
6. To be disintegrated by such immersion.
7. To disperse, drive apart a group of persons.
8. To break the continuity of; to disconnect; to loosen; to undo; to separate.
9. To annul; to rescind; to discharge or release.
10. To shift from one shot to another by having the former fade out as the latter fades in.
11. To resolve itself as by dissolution.
12. To solve; to clear up; to resolve.
13. To relax by pleasure; to make powerless.
14. To separate a ligature into its component letters.

## Etymology
Recorded since c. 1374 (displacing Old English toliesan) as Middle English dissolven, from Latin dissolvere (“to loosen up, break apart”) but with the sense from Anglo-Norman dissoldre (variant of Old French dissoudre), itself from dis- (“apart”) + solvere (“to loose, loosen”). By surface analysis, dis- + solve.

## Easily confused with
- **dissolved** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dissolve-vs-dissolved)

## Common misspellings (10)
`ddissolve`, `disolve`, `disoslve`, `disslove`, `dissolev`, `dissollve`, `dissolvve`, `dissovle`, `dsisolve`, `idssolve`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/dissolve