[syn: dislocation, breakdown]
3.  a displacement of a part (especially a bone) from its normal position (as in the shoulder or the vertebral column); 
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Dislocation \Dis`lo*ca"tion\, n. [Cf. F. dislocation.]
   1. The act of displacing, or the state of being displaced.
      --T. Burnet.
      [1913 Webster]
   2. (Geol.) The displacement of parts of rocks or portions of
      strata from the situation which they originally occupied.
      Slips, faults, and the like, are dislocations.
      [1913 Webster]
   3. (Surg.) The act of dislocating, or putting out of joint;
      also, the condition of being thus displaced.
      [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
dislocation
    n 1: an event that results in a displacement or discontinuity
         [syn: dislocation, disruption]
    2: the act of disrupting an established order so it fails to
       continue; "the social dislocations resulting from government
       policies"; "his warning came after the breakdown of talks in
       London" [syn: dislocation, breakdown]
    3: a displacement of a part (especially a bone) from its normal
       position (as in the shoulder or the vertebral column)
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
39 Moby Thesaurus words for "dislocation":
   abstraction, alienation, convulsion, derangement, detachment,
   disarrangement, disarticulation, disassociation, discomposure,
   disconnectedness, disconnection, discontinuity, disengagement,
   disjointing, disjunction, disorder, disorganization, disturbance,
   disunion, division, divorce, divorcement, incoherence, insanity,
   isolation, luxation, misarrangement, parting, partition,
   perturbation, removal, segmentation, separation, separatism,
   shuffling, subdivision, subtraction, withdrawal, zoning