scission
Act of dividing
Scission is the act of cutting or dividing, or the state of being cut.
The word appears mainly in technical contexts: nuclear fission involves scission of atomic nuclei, and in chemistry, bond scission is the breaking of molecular bonds.
Outside scientific writing, scission is rare—most people would say *cut* or *split* instead.
Rupturing chemical links
- cleavageTendency to split cleanly
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
- radicalsAdvocates for fundamental change
- photolysisMolecular breakdown via light
thermolysis · hydrolysis · fission · dissociation · cracking · depolymerization · oxidative · molecular weight
State of being apart
- divisionSplitting into parts
- splittingDividing into parts
- severanceTermination pay or disconnection
- ruptureViolent tearing apart
partition · schism · break · divorce · detachment · cleavage · disconnection · sundering
Parent splitting into offspring
- mitosisNuclear division producing identical cells
- meiosisGamete-producing cell division
- cytokinesisCytoplasmic division after mitosis
- binary fissionAsexual splitting into two
replication · splitting · segregation · cellular · spindle · separation · membrane · organelle
bond breaking
Rupturing chemical links
- cleavageTendency to split cleanly
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
- radicalsAdvocates for fundamental change
photolysis · thermolysis · hydrolysis · fission · dissociation · cracking · depolymerization · oxidative · molecular weight · backbone
separation
State of being apart
rupture · partition · schism · break · divorce · detachment · cleavage · disconnection · sundering · bifurcation
cell division
Parent splitting into offspring
- mitosisNuclear division producing identical cells
- meiosisGamete-producing cell division
- cytokinesisCytoplasmic division after mitosis
binary fission · replication · splitting · segregation · cellular · spindle · separation · membrane · organelle · prokaryotic
- bond breakingbond breaking, bond cleavage, cleavage, dissociation, fission
- Endocytosisendosome, internalization, phagocytosis, macropinocytosis, invagination
- heat damageburn, scorch, char, singe, scald
scissionfusion
Joining into unity
bonding · polymerization · concatenation · synthesis · coupling
scissionunification
Merging into one entity
union · connection · conjunction · association · combination
decision, precise, scissors, excise, rescind, concise, scissor, incision, excision