1. performing surgery or dissection on a living animal for scientific research
Usage: scientific/medical context
2. analyzing or examining something in great detail, often in a harsh or critical way
Usage: figurative use

Examples

• The researchers were vivisecting laboratory mice to study heart function.
• Animal rights activists protested against vivisecting primates for medical research.
• The ethics committee debated the morality of vivisecting animals for cosmetic testing.
• The critic was vivisecting the author’s latest novel in her review.
• He spent hours vivisecting every detail of the failed business plan.
• The documentary was vivisecting the corruption scandal piece by piece.