Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - deconstruction

 noun  Etymology: French deconstruction, from de- de- + construction  Date: 1973  1. a philosophical or critical method which asserts that meanings, metaphysical constructs, and hierarchical oppositions (as between key terms in a philosophical or literary work) are always rendered unstable by their dependence on ultimately arbitrary signifiers; also an instance of the use of this method a ~ of the nature-culture opposition in Rousseau's work  2. the analytic examination of something (as a theory) often in order to reveal its inadequacy