divided
Americanadjective
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separated; separate.
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shared; apportioned.
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(of a leaf ) cut into distinct portions by incisions extending to the midrib or base.
adjective
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botany another word for dissected
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split; not united
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of divided
Explanation
Something that's divided is sectioned or split into parts. A divided political party might be separated into several groups with very different opinions on what the party's priorities ought to be. Things can be physically divided, the way a pizza is when it's cut into eight separate pieces, or the way a highway is when it has a concrete barrier between lanes that go in different directions. There's also a figurative way of being divided, like a divided family that's feuding about something, or divided experts who disagree on the findings of a study. The adjective divided comes from the Latin dividere, "to force apart, cleave, or distribute."
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.
Over the past year, though, the voting committee was more divided.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026
The water was divided under a 1922 agreement called the Colorado River Compact, which overpromised what the river could provide.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026
This is a stock’s price divided by analysts’ consensus estimate for earnings per share over the next 12 months.
From MarketWatch • May 14, 2026
The discovery adds powerful new support to a controversial idea that has divided paleontologists for more than 30 years.
From Science Daily • May 14, 2026
“I knew that after all the protests,” he later wrote, “American public opinion would be seriously divided by any military escalation of the war.”
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
