trichotomy
Americannoun
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trichotomies
plural
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division into three parts, classes, categories, etc.
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an instance of such a division, as in thought, structure, or object.
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the three-part division of human beings into body, spirit, and soul.
noun
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division into three categories
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theol the division of man into body, spirit, and soul
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of trichotomy
1600–10; < New Latin trichotomia < Greek trích ( a ) in three parts + New Latin -tomia -tomy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As agonizing as this emergency decision would be, the setup plays like a false trichotomy, compounded by ancillary ironies contrived for dramatic purposes.
From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2021
Typical Connectives but, while, however, nonetheless, yet despite, even though One other major coherence relation doesn’t easily fit into Hume’s trichotomy, attribution: so-and-so believes such-and-such.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Valentinus avails himself of the notion of the trichotomy of human nature, and gives a place for the bulk of Christians, those who did not embrace Gnosticism; cf.
From A Source Book for Ancient Church History by Joseph Cullen Ayer
With these views agree the later doctrines of the Bible as to the "trichotomy" of "body, soul, and spirit" in man, and of the added influence of the Spirit of God as acting on humanity.
From The Origin of the World According to Revelation and Science by John William Dawson
‘They knew that dichotomy, and not trichotomy, was for our times the law of the nation’s life.’
From The Real Gladstone an Anecdotal Biography by J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
