divide
divide Lexical Profile
divide Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To separate or be separated into parts, sections, or groups.
"The instructor decided to divide the large lecture class into smaller seminar groups for discussion."
To distribute, allocate, or share something in portions among a number of people or things.
"The two partners agreed to divide the responsibilities of managing the bookstore equally between them."
To calculate how many times one number contains another, or to be contained in a number a specified number of times (in mathematics).
"If you divide thirty by six, the resulting quotient is five."
To cause people or groups to disagree, quarrel, or become estranged from one another.
"The proposed zoning changes continued to divide residents at the town hall meeting."
• noun
A wide divergence or significant difference between two groups, ideas, or conditions, often causing mutual incomprehension or tension.
"Public policymakers are working to bridge the growing digital divide between urban centers and rural communities."
North American An elevated tract of high ground, ridge, or mountain range that separates two adjacent drainage basins, directing the flow of rivers and streams toward opposite sides.
"The Continental Divide runs along the crest of the Rocky Mountains, separating waters flowing into the Pacific Ocean from those flowing into the Atlantic."
• Rhymes for divide
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in Middle English from Latin dividere ('to force apart, cleave, distribute'), formed from the prefix dis- ('apart') and a root meaning 'to separate' or 'to bereave'.