bifurcated

[bahy-fer-key-tid, bahy-fur-]

adjective

1. divided or forked into two separate aspects or branches.

   In Star Trek, Spock and Kirk together represent a bifurcated hero, with each character representing one aspect of the human condition.

   The bifurcated fiber optic cable transmits light with half its fibers, while the other half act to detect reflected light.

2. Law.,  (of a trial) occurring in two separate parts, often with determination of guilt in the first part and sentencing or awarding of damages in the second.

   The same jury will usually hear both phases of a bifurcated trial.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of bifurcate.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bifurcated¹

First recorded in 1710–20; bifurcate ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; bifurcate ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

“Our second quarter results reflect a bifurcated market. We are winning work and demand is strong for our leading cyber, AI, and warfighting technologies,” said CEO Horacio Rozanski in a news release.

Read more on Barron's

Still, he added the market is bifurcated, and that new full-year outlook reflects the current environment.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“What we find interesting is that the market is bifurcated between companies growing quickly and mature companies growing slowly,” he said.

Read more on MarketWatch

"When you peel back the layers of the onion, it's clear that we have a very bifurcated consumer," he said.

Read more on BBC

For all the movie’s crisp attention to bifurcated lives, “The History of Sound” more aptly resembles a painstakingly dry still life than a moving picture.

Read more on Los Angeles Times