démonter

to dismantle, to take apart

verb deh-mohn-TEH Rare

Also means

to confound, to disconcert

Usage Note

démonter literally means to take a machine or object apart, but it also commonly means to throw someone off balance or to leave someone speechless (ça m'a démonté = it threw me off). The reflexive se démonter means 'to lose one's composure.'

Examples

"Il a démonté le moteur pour le réparer."

Natural Translation

He dismantled the engine to repair it.

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