"destruction of the cohesion of constituent parts," originally in geology, 1796, noun of action from disintegrate.
Entries linking to disintegration
disintegrate v.
1796, transitive, "separate into component parts, destroy the cohesion of," originally in geology, from dis- "do the opposite of" + integrate (v.). Intransitive sense, "to break apart, separate into its component parts," is by 1851. Related: Disintegrated; disintegrating.