bisect

[ verb bahy-sekt, bahy-sekt; noun bahy-sekt ]

/ verb baɪˈsɛkt, ˈbaɪ sɛkt; noun ˈbaɪ sɛkt /

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verb (used with object)

to cut or divide into two equal or nearly equal parts.

Geometry. to cut or divide into two equal parts: to bisect an angle.

to intersect or cross: the spot where the railroad tracks bisect the highway.

verb (used without object)

to split into two, as a road; fork: There's a charming old inn just before the road bisects.

noun

Also called split. Philately. a portion of a stamp, usually half, used for payment of a proportionate amount of the face value of the whole stamp.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of bisect

1640–50; bi-¹ + -sect < Latin sectus, past participle of secāre to cut, sever; see section

Related formsbi·sec·tion, nounbi·sec·tion·al, adjectivebi·sec·tion·al·ly, adverb

Can be confusedbisect dissect

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bisection

It is not a case of drawing a straight line from one extreme to the other, and finding the middle point by bisection.
A Critical History of Greek Philosophy|W. T. Stace
Before the bisection is motion; after the bisection is rest.
Know the Truth; A critique of the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation|Jesse H. Jones
Or were totem names given, nobody knows why, to the two phratries at the time when the 'bisection' of the commune was made?
Social Origins and Primal Law|Andrew Lang
The 'bisection' of his theory could not, I fear, be 'gradual.'
Social Origins and Primal Law|Andrew Lang

For the diameters, bisect each side and connect the points of bisection.
Text Books of Art Education, Book IV (of 7)|Hugo B. Froehlich

British Dictionary definitions for bisection

bisect

/ (baɪˈsɛkt) /

verb

(tr) maths to divide into two equal parts

to cut or split into two

Derived Formsbisection (baɪˈsɛkʃən), noun

Word Origin for bisect

C17: bi- 1 + -sect from Latin secāre to cut

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 bisection

bisection

"division in two," 1650s, noun of state from bisect. Related: Bisectional.

bisect

"to cut in two," 1640s, from Modern Latin bisectus, from Latin bi- "two" (see bi-) + secare "to cut" (see section (n.)). Related: Bisected; bisecting.

Science definitions for bisection

bisect

[ bī′sĕkt′, bī-sĕkt′ ]

To cut or divide into two parts, especially two equal parts.