Divide

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /dɪˈvaɪd/

Origin

From Latin dīvidō ("divide")

Full definition of divide

Verb

1. (transitive) To split or separate (something) into two or more parts.a wall divides two houses; a stream divides the towns
• Bible, 1 Kings iii. 25Divide the living child in two.
2. (transitive) To share (something) by dividing it.
   How shall we divide this pie?
• Spensertrue justice unto people to divide
3. (transitive, arithmetic) To calculate the number (the quotient) by which you must multiply one given number (the divisor) to produce a second given number (the dividend).
   If you divide 6 by 3, you get 2.
4. (transitive, arithmetic) To be a divisor of.
   3 divides 6.
5. (intransitive) To separate into two or more parts.
6. (intransitive, biology) Of a cell, to reproduce by dividing.
• 2013-07-20, Welcome to the plastisphere, researchers noticed many of their pieces of marine debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, and that in several cases these bacteria were dividing and thus, by the perverse arithmetic of biological terminology, multiplying.
7. To disunite in opinion or interest; to make discordant or hostile; to set at variance.
• Bible, Mark iii. 24If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
• PrescottEvery family became now divided within itself.
8. (obsolete) To break friendship; to fall out.
• 1605, William Shakespeare, , I. ii. 107:love cools, friendship
  falls off, brothers divide.
9. (obsolete) To have a share; to partake.
• 1608, William Shakespeare, , I. vi. 87:Make good this ostentation, and you shall
  Divide in all with us.
10. To vote, as in the British Parliament, by the members separating themselves into two parties (as on opposite sides of the hall or in opposite lobbies), that is, the ayes dividing from the noes.
• GibbonThe emperors sat, voted, and divided with their equals.
11. To mark divisions on; to graduate.to divide a sextant
12. (music) To play or sing in a florid style, or with variations.

Synonyms

• (split into two or more parts) cut up, disunite, partition, split, split up
• (share by dividing) divvy up, divide up, share, share out
• (separate into two or more parts) separate, shear, split, split up

Antonyms

• (split into two or more parts) combine, merge, unify, unite
• (calculate times of multiplication) multiply

Related terms

• dividend
• division
• divisor
• ÷

Noun

1. A thing that divides.Stay on your side of the divide, please.
2. An act of dividing.The divide left most of the good land on my share of the property.
3. A distancing between two people or things.There is a great divide between us.
4. (geography) A large chasm, gorge, or ravine between two areas of land.If you're heading to the coast, you'll have to cross the divide first.----