Definition of "divide" in English

verb

1. (transitive) To split or separate (something) into two or more parts.

   • a wall divides two houses; a stream divides the towns

2. (transitive) To share (something) by dividing it.

   • How shall we divide this pie?

3. (transitive) To cause (a group of people) to disagree.

   • Words divide us, Wiktionary unites us.

4. (transitive, arithmetic, with by) To calculate the number (the quotient) by which you must multiply one given number (the divisor) to produce a second given number (the dividend).

   • If you divide 6 by 3, you get 2.

5. (transitive, arithmetic) To be a divisor of.

   • 3 divides 6.

6. (intransitive) To separate into two or more parts.

7. (intransitive, biology) Of a cell, to reproduce by dividing.

8. To disunite in opinion or interest; to make discordant or hostile; to set at variance.

9. (obsolete) To break friendship; to fall out.

10. (obsolete) To have a share; to partake.

11. To vote, as in the British parliament and other legislatures, by the members separating themselves into two parties (as on opposite sides of the hall or in opposite lobbies), that is, the ayes dividing from the noes.

12. To mark divisions on; to graduate.

    • to divide a sextant

13. (music) To play or sing in a florid style, or with variations.

noun

1. A thing that divides.

   • Stay on your side of the divide, please.

2. An act of dividing.

   • The divide left most of the good land on my share of the property.

3. A distancing between two people or things.

   • There is a great divide between us.

4. (geography) A large chasm, gorge, or ravine between two areas of land.

   • If you're heading to the coast, you'll have to cross the divide first.
   • The team crossed streams and jumped across deep, narrow divides in the glacier.

5. (hydrology) The topographical boundary dividing two adjacent catchment basins, such as a ridge or a crest.