divided

1. 1
   adjective

   Separated or split apart into distinct sections or pieces.

   Like a jigsaw puzzle taken apart into loose pieces.

   The divided estate was sold off as several smaller lots.

   Workers carried the divided slab away in two heavy halves.

   Similarsplit, separated, partitioned

   Oppositewhole, intact, undivided

   Note

   The adjectives began as a participle that settled into describing things: Middle English divided, devided or devidid, the past participle of dividen. In this physical sense the word usually sits before its noun, as in a divided slab or a divided estate, and it seldom needs more or most. A slab is either in pieces or whole, while opinion and loyalty can be more or less split.

2. 2
   adjective

   In disagreement or inner conflict because of differences in opinion, interests, or feelings.

   The jury remained divided about the defendant's intent.

   She felt divided between staying home and taking the job overseas.

   Similarsplit, torn, conflicted

   Oppositeunanimous, united, agreed

   Note

   Here the split runs through views or feelings, and it can sit inside a single mind. A person can be divided, just as opinion on a question can be, as in divided opinions. That is the easiest way to tell it from the "disunited" sense, which needs a group of people that has broken apart. One undecided person is divided in this sense but is never disunited.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of divide.

   The teacher divided the class into small discussion groups.

   The estate was divided equally among the surviving heirs.

   Note

   One spelling covers three jobs: the simple past (she divided the cake), the perfect after have (has divided), and the passive after be (was divided among the heirs). The passive is also how arithmetic is read aloud, as in twelve divided by four, from the verb's calculating sense. When the passive describes a lasting state rather than an action, the word has crossed into the adjective of split opinion or the "disunited" adjective.

4. 4
   adjectiveUS

   Of a road, separated into opposing lanes of traffic by a central median.

   A divided highway reduces head-on collisions by keeping opposing traffic apart.

   They widened the route into a divided road with a grassy median.

   Oppositeundivided

   Note

   An American road term that describes the road itself rather than the traffic on it, most familiar in the phrase divided highway. The physical median is what earns the word: painted lane markings alone do not make a road divided. Because the usage is American, it fits most naturally in writing set in the US or aimed at American readers.

5. 5
   adjective

   Lacking unity; split into opposing factions or groups.

   The party grew increasingly divided in the months after the election.

   A divided organization rarely survives a serious external threat.

   Similarsplit, fragmented, disunited, fractured, polarized

   Oppositeunited, unified, cohesive

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