Definition of SUNDER

Examples of sunder in a Sentence

a family sundered by scandal
during the cold war East and West Berlin were sundered by an impenetrable wall

Recent Examples of sunder from the Web

At the moment, a blockade on land crossings into Qatar mostly threatens food deliveries and sundered families, said the administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

— mark landler and gardiner harris, New York Times, "Trump Team’s Shifts Jolt Some Allies and Soothe Others", 9 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sunder'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of sunder

Middle English, from Old English gesundrian, syndrian; akin to Old High German suntarōn to sunder, Old English sundor apart, Latin sine without, Sanskrit sanutar away

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First Known Use: before 12th century

See Words from the same year

sunder Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of sunder

separate, part, divide, sever, sunder, divorce mean to become or cause to become disunited or disjointed. separate may imply any of several causes such as dispersion, removal of one from others, or presence of an intervening thing. separated her personal life from her career part implies the separating of things or persons in close union or association. vowed never to part divide implies separating into pieces or sections by cutting or breaking. civil war divided the nation sever implies violence especially in the removal of a part or member. a severed limb sunder suggests violent rending or wrenching apart. a city sundered by racial conflict divorce implies separating two things that commonly interact and belong together. cannot divorce scientific research from moral responsibility

sunder