division
Pluraldivisions (some meanings)
- 1The act or process of separating something into distinct parts.
The division of the estate among the heirs caused years of dispute.
Cell division lets a single fertilized egg grow into a whole organism.
UsageUsually the division of something into parts, or between or among people.
Similarsplit, separation
Oppositemerger, unification, fusion, combination
- 2One of the groups into which the teams of a sports league or competition are split, often by standard of play or by region.
After a poor season, the club was sent down to a lower division.
The two rivals play in the same division, so they meet four times every season.
UsageTeams play in a division and may win it or move to a higher or lower division.
Similarleague, tier, conference
- 3A high-level section of a large company or conglomerate, handling one area of its business.
The firm sold off its overseas divisions to focus on its home market.
He was promoted to head the consumer products division last spring.
Similardepartment, unit, branch, arm
- 4
- 5A military formation, usually made up of two or three brigades together with supporting units.
The general commanded an armored division throughout the campaign.
Two divisions were held in reserve behind the front line.
Note
A soldier's word for a formation big enough to operate on its own: usually two or three brigades under one commander, with support units attached. The kind of troops usually comes first, as in an armored division or an infantry division, and divisions are often moved or held in reserve as whole units. It sits a rung above the brigade, so a brigade may belong to a division, never the reverse.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- A division is a formation capable of independent operations. en.wikipedia.org
- Two or three maneuver brigades under a divisional commander, with supporting units, is a typical divisional structure. army.mil
- Divisions can operate or be held in reserve as whole units, but they can also deploy with only part of their strength. bits.de
- A division is a larger formation than a brigade, but some brigades operate independently of divisions. en.wikipedia.org
- 6A difference of viewpoint that separates people into two opposing sides of an argument.
A bitter division ran through the town over where to build the new road.
The debate revealed long-standing divisions between the two factions.
UsageOften plural, with over for the issue and between or within for the groups: divisions within the party.
Similardisagreement, split, rift, schism, dissension
Oppositeagreement, unity, harmony, consensus
Note
The social or political rift, often plural and often deep: divisions are stoked, sown, exploited or healed. It describes a lasting split between groups more than a single quarrel. That is why a politician accuses enemies of stoking divisions rather than of starting one.
- 7An electoral area that elects one or more members to a parliament; a constituency.
The candidate campaigned in every town across the division.
Boundary changes merged two neighboring divisions before the election.
Similarconstituency, district, seat
Note
Australian English uses division for a parliamentary electoral area, also called a constituency. Federal divisions each elect one member, while Tasmania's House of Assembly divisions elect several. Candidates campaign across a division, and boundary changes redraw or merge divisions. Keep it apart from the counted vote in the chamber: an Australian report can use both, with the member for one division calling for a division in the House.
- 8One section of a government agency, police force, court, museum, or similar body, in charge of a single part of its work.
Detectives from the homicide division arrived within an hour of the call.
Her custody case was transferred to the family division of the county court.
Similardepartment, unit, branch, section, bureau
Note
The public-service counterpart of the corporate division: the same idea of a unit with one job, inside an agency, a police force or a court. Such units are usually named by their work, with the field placed before the noun: the homicide division, the family division of a court. When the name is the unit's official title, it is often capitalized.
Less common meanings
- 9The arithmetic operation of finding how many times one number is contained in another, or a single calculation of this kind.
Long division lets you work through larger numbers one step at a time.
Division by zero is undefined in standard arithmetic.
UsageFor the skill there is usually no plural: long division, good at division. Say 10 divided by 2 for one sum.
Note
Arithmetic's undoing of multiplication: a dividend is split by a divisor to give a quotient, with a remainder left over when it does not go evenly.
- 10A method of counting votes in a legislature by separating members into groups, used to get a more accurate tally than a voice vote.
The house held a division on the contested amendment.
Several divisions were forced before the session finally ended.
Similarvote
Note
Parliaments on the House of Commons model use the word for a vote that is actually counted. In the traditional British procedure, members physically separate into groups, such as the aye and no lobbies, and are tallied one by one. A bill can pass a stage without a division when the voice vote favors it and goes unchallenged. Members can also call or force a division when they want every vote on the record.
- 11A rank of classification below kingdom and above class, used mainly for plants and fungi, and equivalent to a phylum in animals.
Conifers belong to a different division of the plant kingdom from flowering plants.
Botanists revised several plant divisions after new genetic evidence emerged.
Similarphylum
Note
Botany has its own traditional name for the rank zoologists call a phylum, though botanists may use either word. Divisions sit at the same level as phyla, between kingdom and class. Names at this rank are capitalized, often ending in -phyta, as in Magnoliophyta. The same word also names a much lower zoological rank, so a taxonomic "division" needs its kingdom to be read correctly.
- 12An optional classification rank in zoology, placed below the infraclass and above the legion and cohort.
- 13A legal principle under which co-debtors are each liable only for their proportionate share of a shared debt.
- 14Any of the four major sections that make up the source code of a COBOL program.
- 15A set of pipes in a pipe organ that are controlled and supplied with wind independently of the others.
- 16A florid variation of a melody, common in the 16th and 17th centuries, in which long notes are broken into runs of shorter ones.
- 17A lesson or class, in the usage of Eton College.
Practice
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Origin
This word came into Middle English as divisioun, borrowed from Old French division, which came from Latin dīvīsiō (accusative dīvīsiōnem), a noun formed from dīvīsus ("divided"), the participle of dīvidō ("divide").
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Middle English divisioun was borrowed from Old French division. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French division came from the Latin noun dīvīsiō through its accusative form dīvīsiōnem. en.wiktionary.org
- Dīvīsiōnem is the accusative form of dīvīsiō, not a word from which the Latin nominative developed. en.wiktionary.org
- The Latin noun was formed from dīvīsus, meaning divided, the participle of dīvidō, meaning divide. en.wiktionary.org