NOUN (3)

1. cutting so as to separate into pieces;

2. a minute and critical analysis;

3. detailed critical analysis or examination one part at a time (as of a literary work);

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Dissection \Dis*sec"tion\, n. [Cf. F. dissection.]
   1. The act of dissecting an animal or plant; as, dissection
      of the human body was held sacrilege till the time of
      Francis I.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Fig.: The act of separating or dividing for the purpose of
      critical examination.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Anything dissected; especially, some part, or the whole,
      of an animal or plant dissected so as to exhibit the
      structure; an anatomical so prepared.
      [1913 Webster]

   Dissection wound, a poisoned wound incurred during the
      dissection of a dead body.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

dissection
    n 1: cutting so as to separate into pieces
    2: a minute and critical analysis
    3: detailed critical analysis or examination one part at a time
       (as of a literary work)

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

28 Moby Thesaurus words for "dissection":
   analysis, analyzation, anatomizing, anatomy, assay, assaying,
   breakdown, breaking down, breaking up, breakup, criticism,
   critique, diaeresis, division, docimasy, examination,
   gravimetric analysis, inspection, proximate analysis,
   quantitative analysis, reduction to elements, resolution, review,
   scrutiny, segmentation, semimicroanalysis, separation,
   subdivision