DIVIDE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does divide mean? 

• DIVIDE (noun)
  The noun DIVIDE has 2 senses:

1. a serious disagreement between two groups of people (typically producing tension or hostility)

2. a ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems

  Familiarity information: DIVIDE used as a noun is rare.

• DIVIDE (verb)
  The verb DIVIDE has 6 senses:

1. separate into parts or portions

2. perform a division

3. act as a barrier between; stand between

4. come apart

5. make a division or separation

6. force, take, or pull apart

  Familiarity information: DIVIDE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIVIDE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A serious disagreement between two groups of people (typically producing tension or hostility)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

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

disagreement; dissension; dissonance (a conflict of people's opinions or actions or characters)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

divide; water parting; watershed

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

line (a spatial location defined by a real or imaginary unidimensional extent)

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

continental divide (the watershed of a continent (especially the watershed of North America formed by a series of mountain ridges extending from Alaska to Mexico))

Instance hyponyms:

Great Divide (that part of the continental divide formed by the Rocky Mountains in the United States)

Derivation:

divide (act as a barrier between; stand between)

• DIVIDE (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Separate into parts or portions

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

carve up; dissever; divide; separate; split; split up

Context example:

The British carved up the Ottoman Empire after World War I

Hypernyms (to "divide" is one way to...):

change integrity (change in physical make-up)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "divide"):

subdivide (divide into smaller and smaller pieces)

format; initialise; initialize (divide (a disk) into marked sectors so that it may store data)

sectionalise; sectionalize (divide into sections, especially into geographic sections)

triangulate (divide into triangles or give a triangular form to)

unitise; unitize (divide (bulk material) and process as units)

lot (divide into lots, as of land, for example)

parcel (divide into parts)

sliver; splinter (divide into slivers or splinters)

paragraph (divide into paragraphs, as of text)

canton (divide into cantons, of a country)

Balkanise; Balkanize (divide a territory into small, hostile states)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Antonym:

unite (act in concert or unite in a common purpose or belief)

Derivation:

divider (a vertical structure that divides or separates (as a wall divides one room from another))

divider (a person who separates something into parts or groups)

divider (a taxonomist who classifies organisms into many groups on the basis of relatively minor characteristics)

divisible (capable of being or liable to be divided or separated)

division (the act or process of dividing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Perform a division

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

divide; fraction

Context example:

Can you divide 49 by seven?

Hypernyms (to "divide" is one way to...):

calculate; cipher; compute; cypher; figure; reckon; work out (make a mathematical calculation or computation)

Domain category:

arithmetic (the branch of pure mathematics dealing with the theory of numerical calculations)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "divide"):

quarter (divide by four; divide into quarters)

halve (divide by two; divide into halves)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

multiply (combine by multiplication)

Derivation:

divisible (capable of being or liable to be divided or separated)

division (an arithmetic operation that is the inverse of multiplication; the quotient of two numbers is computed)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Act as a barrier between; stand between

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

divide; separate

Context example:

The mountain range divides the two countries

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

divide (a ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems)

divider (a vertical structure that divides or separates (as a wall divides one room from another))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Come apart

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

divide; part; separate

Context example:

The two pieces that we had glued separated

Hypernyms (to "divide" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "divide"):

gerrymander (divide unfairly and to one's advantage; of voting districts)

discerp; dismember; take apart (divide into pieces)

partition; partition off (divide into parts, pieces, or sections)

section; segment (divide into segments)

reduce (undergo meiosis)

segment (divide or split up)

segregate (divide from the main body or mass and collect)

disjoin; disjoint (become separated, disconnected or disjoint)

break away; break off; chip; chip off; come off (break off (a piece from a whole))

break up; calve (release ice)

polarise; polarize (become polarized in a conflict or contrasting situation)

subdivide (form into subdivisions)

come away; come off; detach (come to be detached)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

divisible (capable of being or liable to be divided or separated)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Make a division or separation

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

divide; separate

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "divide"):

close off; shut off (isolate or separate)

detach (separate (a small unit) from a larger, especially for a special assignment)

rail; rail off (separate with a railing)

break up; dispel; disperse; dissipate; scatter (to cause to separate and go in different directions)

break (destroy the integrity of; usually by force; cause to separate into pieces or fragments)

partition; zone (separate or apportion into sections)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

divisible (capable of being or liable to be divided or separated)

division (the act of dividing or partitioning; separation by the creation of a boundary that divides or keeps apart)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Force, take, or pull apart

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

disunite; divide; part; separate

Context example:

Moses parted the Red Sea

Hypernyms (to "divide" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Cause:

divide; part; separate (come apart)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "divide"):

gin (separate the seeds from (cotton) with a cotton gin)

bust; rupture; snap; tear (separate or cause to separate abruptly)

break up; sever (set or keep apart)

break (separate from a clinch, in boxing)

joint (separate (meat) at the joint)

tear (to separate or be separated by force)

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

disconnect (make disconnected, disjoin or unfasten)

disarticulate; disjoint (separate at the joints)

disjoin; disjoint (make disjoint, separated, or disconnected; undo the joining of)

isolate; keep apart; sequester; sequestrate; set apart (set apart from others)

polarise; polarize (cause to concentrate about two conflicting or contrasting positions)

compartmentalise; compartmentalize; cut up (separate into isolated compartments or categories)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody

 Context examples 

When they had retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged that we should sit up, dividing the night between us, and watch over the safety of the poor stricken lady.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I’m dividing amongst them a dollar a skin for all the skins shot by our new hunters.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

There was rush-grass on that stream—this he remembered well—but no timber, and he would follow it till its first trickle ceased at a divide.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The cumulative amount recovered from the specimen type specified in PPSPEC between doses (TAU) divided by surface area.

(Amount Recovered Over Dosing Interval Normalized by Surface Area, NCI Thesaurus)

A term used to describe cancer cells that divide rapidly and have little or no resemblance to normal cells.

(Anaplastic, NCI Dictionary)

AT7519M blocks enzymes needed for cells to divide.

(AT7519M, NCI Dictionary)

AP23573 stops cells from dividing and may cause cancer cells to die.

(AP23573, NCI Dictionary)

The cumulative amount recovered from the specimen type, from dosing to end of the current collection interval divided by the weight.

(Amount Recovered Normalized by Weight, NCI Thesaurus)

The two great streets, which run across and divide it into four quarters, are five feet wide.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He was divided on the cashing of it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)