the act or process of dividing; state of being divided.
2.
Arithmetic. the operation inverse to multiplication; the finding of a quantity, the quotient, that when multiplied by a given quantity, the divisor, gives another given quantity, the dividend; the process of ascertaining how many times one number or quantity is contained in another.
3.
something that divides or separates; partition.
4.
something that marks a division; dividing line or mark.
5.
one of the parts into which a thing is divided; section.
6.
separation by difference of opinion or feeling; disagreement; dissension.
7.
Government. the separation of a legislature, or the like, into two groups, in taking a vote.
8.
one of the parts into which a country or an organization is divided for political, judicial, military, or other purposes.
9.
Military.
a.
(in the army) a major administrative and tactical unit, larger than a regiment or brigade and smaller than a corps: it is usually commanded by a major general.
b.
(in the navy) a number of ships, usually four, forming a tactical group that is part of a fleet or squadron.
10.
a major autonomous or semi-independent but subordinate administrative unit of an industrial enterprise, government bureau, transportation system, or university: the sales division of our company; the Division of Humanities.
11.
(in sports) a category or class containing all the teams or competitors grouped together according to standing, skill, weight, age, or the like: a team in the first division; the heavyweight division in boxing.
12.
Botany. a major primary subdivision of the plant kingdom, consisting of one or more classes; plant phylum.
13.
Zoology. any subdivision of a classificatory group or category.
14.
Horticulture. a type of propagation in which new plants are grown from segments separated from the parent plant.
15.
the ornamentation of a melodic line in 17th- and 18th-century music.
[Origin: 1325–75; ME divisioun, devisioun (< AF) < L dīvīsiōn- (s. of dīvīsiō), equiv. to dīvīs(us) (see divisible) + -iōn--ion]
—Related forms
di·vi·sion·al, di·vi·sion·ar·y, adjective
di·vi·sion·al·ly, adverb
—Synonyms 1. separation, apportionment, allotment, distribution. Division,partition suggest dividing into parts. Division usually means marking off or separating a whole into parts. Partition often adds the idea of allotting or assigning parts following division: partition of an estate, of a country. 4. boundary, demarcation. 5. compartment, segment. 6. breach, rift, disunion, rupture, estrangement, alienation.
division, fundamental operation in arithmetic; the inverse of multiplication. Division may be indicated by the symbol ÷, as in 15 ÷ 3, or simply by a fraction, 15/3. The number that is being divided, e.g. 15, is called the dividend and the number dividing into it, e.g. 3, the divisor. The result of division is called the quotient. If the dividend is an exact (integral) multiple of the divisor, then the division will be exact, the quotient being the factor by which the divisor must be multiplied to yield the dividend (in the above example the quotient 5 multiplied by the divisor 3 equals the dividend 15). If the dividend is not an exact multiple of the divisor there will be a remainder expressed as a fraction with the divisor as the denominator; e.g., 16/3 = 51/3, where 1/3 is the remainder. A division in which the divisor b is larger than the dividend a is simply indicated by the fraction a/b, with no actual operation being carried out. In terms of multiplication either of the symbols 1/b or b-1 is called the multiplicative inverse of b with the property that the product of a number and its inverse equals 1, or b · b-1 =1. The division of a by b is equivalent to the multiplication of a by the multiplicative inverse of b, i.e., a ÷ b = a · (1/b) = a · b-1; for example, when a = 25 and b = 5, then 1/b = 1/5 and 25 ÷ 5 = 25 · (1/5) = 5.
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