# segment

Pronunciation: say "SEG-muhnt" /ˈsɛɡ.mənt/

## Noun

1. One of the parts into which something naturally separates or is cut off; a section or portion.
   - Simple: One of the parts that something is divided into.
   - _Each segment of the report covered a different department._
   - _The worm's body is made up of many repeating segments._
3. A length cut or marked off from a longer object.
   - Simple: A single piece of something long, like a rope or pipe.
   - _The engineers inspected one segment of the bridge cable._
   - _A damaged segment of track had to be replaced._
4. A portion of a broadcast program that deals with a particular topic.
   - Simple: A part of a TV or radio show that is about one topic.
   - _The producer cut the interview segment for time._
   - _Each episode opens with a segment highlighting viewer questions._
5. A single part of a travel itinerary, such as one flight, train ride, or hotel booking.
   - Simple: One part of a trip, such as a single flight or hotel booking.
   - _The travel agent rebooked the delayed segment of the journey._
   - _Each segment of the itinerary appeared on a separate ticket._
6. In geometry, the part of a straight line lying between two points, which is the shortest path joining them.
   - Simple: The straight line between two points, including both ends.
   - _She measured the segment connecting the two marked points._
   - _Every triangle is formed by three segments._
7. One of several similar parts of an organism arranged in a chain, such as a vertebra or part of an insect's thorax.
   - Simple: One of the repeating body parts of an animal, joined in a row.
   - _Insects show a clear division of the body into head, thorax, and abdominal segments._
   - _Each segment of the worm contracts in turn as it moves._
8. The part of a circle between its edge and a chord cutting across it.
   - Simple: The part of a circle cut off by a straight line across it.
   - _The smaller segment of the circle lies above the chord._
   - _He calculated the area of the shaded segment._
9. In geometry, either of the pieces into which a plane slices a sphere.
   - Simple: The part of a ball cut off by a flat slice.
   - _A horizontal plane divides the sphere into two segments._
   - _The dome was shaped like a segment of a sphere._
10. A region of memory or part of an executable file set aside to hold a particular part of a program.
   - Simple: A part of computer memory set aside for one part of a program.
   - _The loader maps each segment of the executable into memory._
   - _Writing past the end of a segment can crash the program._
11. In phonetics, any one of the separate consonant or vowel sounds that make up a stretch of speech.
   - Simple: A single speech sound, like a vowel or a consonant.
   - _Linguists transcribe each segment of an utterance with a separate symbol._
   - _The first segment of 'ship' is the consonant sound it begins with._
12. A portion of an organ whose cells all come from a single cell in the early tissue the organ grew from.
   - Simple: A part of an organ that all grew from one early cell.
   - _Researchers traced each segment of the developing organ back to one founder cell._
   - _A mutation in one cell can mark an entire segment of the tissue._
13. A single shared section of an Ethernet network forming one bus.
   - Simple: A single shared stretch of a computer network that devices connect to.
   - _Adding a switch divided the crowded segment into smaller ones._
   - _Every device on the segment shares the same bandwidth._

## Verb

Pronunciation: US say "SEG-ment" /ˈsɛɡˌmɛnt/; UK say "seg-MENT" /sɛɡˈmɛnt/

2. To divide something into separate parts or sections.
   - Simple: To split something into smaller parts or sections.
   - _Analysts segment the market into distinct customer groups._
   - _The software segments the recording into labeled clips._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Any of the pieces that make up an order tree.

## Origin

From Latin segmentum ("a piece cut off, a strip"), which comes from secāre ("to cut").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/segment (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).