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bifurcate

[verb, adjective bahy-fer-keyt, bahy-fur-keyt; adjective bahy-fer-kit, bahy-fur-]
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verb (used with or without object), bi·fur·cat·ed, bi·fur·cat·ing.
  1. to divide or fork into two branches.
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adjective
  1. divided into two branches.
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Origin of bifurcate

1605–15; < Medieval Latin bifurcātus, past participle of bifurcāre (bi- bi-1 + furc(a) fork + -ātus -ate1)
Related formsbi·fur·cate·ly [bahy-fer-keyt-lee; bahy-fur-keyt-lee, -kit-] /ˌbaɪ fərˈkeɪt li; baɪˈfɜr keɪt li, -kɪt-/, adverbbi·fur·ca·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for bifurcated

fork, ramify, divide, separate, bisect, diverge, branch, split, furcate

Examples from the Web for bifurcated

Contemporary Examples of bifurcated

Historical Examples of bifurcated

  • Does not the sex that is bifurcated by day keep by night to its manly bifurcation?

    Journeys to Bagdad

    Charles S. Brooks

  • She preserves the different tendencies that have bifurcated with their growth.

    Creative Evolution

    Henri Bergson

  • They soon looked like a bifurcated dishrag, and taking them off, he threw them away.

  • The ribs are short structures with bifurcated proximal ends.

    The Vertebrate Skeleton

    Sidney H. Reynolds

  • All he had done was to risk a harmless jest: So then, my friends, you are to be bifurcated!

    Two banks of the Seine

    Fernand Vandrem

British Dictionary definitions for bifurcated

bifurcate

verb (ˈbaɪfəˌkeɪt)
  1. to fork or divide into two parts or branches
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adjective (ɪbaɪˈfəˌkeɪt, -kɪt)
  1. forked or divided into two sections or branches
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Derived Formsbifurcation, noun

Word Origin for bifurcate

C17: from Medieval Latin bifurcātus, from Latin bifurcus, from bi- 1 + furca fork
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bifurcated

bifurcate

v.

1610s, from Medieval Latin bifurcatus, from Latin bi- (see bi-) + furca, the root of fork. Related: Bifurcated; bifurcating.

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bifurcate

adj.

1835, from Medieval Latin bifurcatus, from Latin bi- (see bi-) + furca, the root of fork (n.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
bifurcated in Medicine

bifurcate

(bī′fər-kāt′, bī-fûr′-)
v.
  1. To divide into two parts or branches.
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adj.
  1. Forked or divided into two parts or branches.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
bifurcated in Science

bifurcate

[bī′fər-kāt′, bī-fûr′-]
  1. Forked or divided into two parts or branches, as the Y-shaped styles of certain flowers or the tongues of snakes.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.