Division

How to spell division

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce division

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does division mean?

1. nounThe action of separating something into distinct parts or groups.
2. nounThe arithmetic operation of finding how many times one number contains another.
3. nounA major section or branch of a company, government, or other organisation.
4. nounA state of disagreement or conflict between people or groups.

Division in a sentence

• The division of the estate among the heirs took several months.

• The pupils practised long division every morning.

• He was promoted to head of the sales division last spring.

• The proposal caused deep division within the committee.

• A clear division of duties kept the project running smoothly.

• She checked her answer by reversing the division with multiplication.

Where does division come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin divisio, meaning 'a separating' or 'a distribution', which was formed from the verb dividere, 'to force apart' or 'to split'. That verb itself joined the prefix dis-, meaning 'apart', to a root tied to the idea of separating or distributing, so the literal sense was 'a putting apart'. English took the word in during the 1300s by way of Old French division, at first for the act of dividing something into parts. Over time it branched into many specialised uses: the arithmetic operation, an administrative branch of an organisation, a military formation, and even a parliamentary vote in which members physically separate into groups. The same dividere root sits inside everyday relatives such as 'divide', 'dividend', and 'individual' (literally something 'not divisible'), and the steady -sion ending is the spelling clue worth holding onto.

How the word is built

• divis- (from Latin dividere: to force apart, separate)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix denoting an action or result)