dissect

verb6

1. •
   To study an animal's anatomy by cutting it apart; to perform a necropsy or an autopsy.

   • She was the first person in her class to properly dissect the sheep heart. — 2020
2. •
   To study a plant's or other organism's anatomy similarly.
3. •
   (figurative) To analyze an idea in detail by delineating between its parts.
4. •
   (disapproving, figurative) To decontextualize an idea, especially through overanalysis by delineating between its parts too strongly based on style, usually involving pedantry, at the expense of substance.

   • Academics tend to take Indigenous oral histories out of their contexts and dissect them according to Western disciplinary objectives and foci (see figure 1). — 2000
5. •
   To separate muscles, organs, etc. without cutting into them or disrupting their architecture.

   • Now dissect the triceps away from its attachment on the humerus.
6. •
   Of an infection or foreign material, following the fascia separating muscles or other organs.