divides

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of divide.

   The teacher divides the class into small groups for the project.

   The river divides the city into eastern and western halves.

   Note

   Most of the verb's uses need an object. Someone divides the class into groups, divides the profits among partners, or divides a group of people against each other. It can also stand alone when something splits by itself, as when a road divides at a fork. Mathematics adds a pared-down use meaning "is a divisor of": three divides twelve, with no "into" needed.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of divide.

   The report mapped the widening economic divides between the region's cities.

   Several continental divides channel rainfall toward different oceans.

   Note

   The same spelling does double duty as the present-tense verb, so in a phrase like "the river divides" only the sentence around it shows which one is meant. As a plural noun it covers both the physical and the figurative senses: ridges and crests that separate one catchment basin from the next, as in continental divides, and the gaps that open between people or groups, as in economic divides.

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