DEPARTMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does department mean? 

• DEPARTMENT (noun)
  The noun DEPARTMENT has 3 senses:

1. a specialized division of a large organization

2. the territorial and administrative division of some countries (such as France)

3. a specialized sphere of knowledge

  Familiarity information: DEPARTMENT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEPARTMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A specialized division of a large organization

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

department; section

Context example:

she got a job in the historical section of the Treasury

Hypernyms ("department" is a kind of...):

division (an administrative unit in government or business)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "department"):

academic department (a division of a school that is responsible for a given subject)

business department (a division of a business firm)

personnel; personnel department; personnel office; staff office (the department responsible for hiring and training and placing employees and for setting policies for personnel management)

government department (a department of government)

payroll; payroll department (the department that determines the amounts of wage or salary due to each employee)

security; security department (a department responsible for the security of the institution's property and workers)

Derivation:

departmental (of or relating to a department)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The territorial and administrative division of some countries (such as France)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("department" is a kind of...):

administrative district; administrative division; territorial division (a district defined for administrative purposes)

Domain region:

France; French Republic (a republic in western Europe; the largest country wholly in Europe)

Holonyms ("department" is a member of...):

country; land; state (the territory occupied by a nation)

Derivation:

departmental (of or relating to a department)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A specialized sphere of knowledge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

his work established a new department of literature

Hypernyms ("department" is a kind of...):

sector; sphere (a particular aspect of life or activity)

 Context examples 

There is, but he has other departments to look after as well.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A department of the United States government concerned with administering those agencies and offices having programs pertaining to health and human services.

(Department of Health and Human Services, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The specialty or practice of nursing in the care of patients admitted to the emergency department.

(Emergency Room Nursing, NCI Thesaurus)

Until now, we have had very little information on suicide risk among patients after they leave the emergency department.

(Emergency department study reveals patterns of patients at increased risk for suicide, National Institutes of Health)

The enormous bone — which weighs in at around half a ton — was unearthed from a dinosaur fossil-rich dig site in the department of Charente south west France.

(140 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur’s Huge Bone Found in Southwest France, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The department responsible for performing chemical and enzymatic analyses of body fluids and tissues.

(Clinical Chemistry, NCI Thesaurus)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention works with state health departments and other organizations throughout the country and the world to help prevent and control disease.

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NCI Dictionary)

There exist twenty-five territories, including sovereign states, overseas departments and dependencies.

(Caribbean, NCI Thesaurus)

Research at the Center is integrated with the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, School of Public Health, and several schools and departments of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and Princeton University.

(Cancer Institute of New Jersey, NCI Thesaurus)

Your state's department of health may also be able to help.

(Patient Rights, NIH)