divisible

American  

[dih-viz-uh-buhl] / dɪˈvɪz ə bəl /

adjective

1. capable of being divided.

2. Mathematics.

   1. capable of being evenly divided, divide, without remainder.

   2. of or relating to a group in which given any element and any integer, there is a second element that when raised to the integer equals the first element.

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divisible British  

/ dɪˈvɪzəbəl /

adjective

1. capable of being divided, usually with no remainder

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Other Word Forms

• divisibleness noun
• divisibly adverb
• nondivisible adjective
• undivisible adjective

Etymology

Origin of divisible

1545–55; (< Anglo-French ) < Late Latin dīvīsibilis, equivalent to Latin dīvīs ( us ), past participle of dīvidere to divide ( dī- di- ² + vīd- (variant stem) + -tus past participle suffix) + -ibilis -ible

Explanation

If something is divisible, it can be evenly split into sections. Your list of personal pet peeves might be divisible into areas you think of as: annoying people, annoying sounds, and terrible food. A pizza is easily divisible into an even number of slices, and your family's rural land might be divisible into smaller parcels for you and your siblings to build cabins on some day. In math, a number is divisible by a smaller number when the division process leaves no remainder: for example, 36 is divisible by 6. Divisible shares a Latin root with divide, dividere, "to force apart or distribute."

Example Sentences

If it fails, Myanmar faces economic ruin reminiscent of 1987, when dictator Ne Win voided all bank notes in denominations not divisible by his lucky number 9, wiping out citizens’ savings overnight.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 18, 2025

Newman also found that some age databases contain unusual numbers of people born on the first day of the month or on dates divisible by five, suggesting many of these birth dates are fabricated.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 20, 2024

Now leap years divisible by 100, like the year 1900, are skipped unless they're also divisible by 400, like the year 2000, in which case they're observed.

From National Geographic • Feb. 26, 2024

This is patently false: you can recognize numbers divisible by 3 because their digits total a number divisible by 3.

From Scientific American • May 25, 2023

At the same time, he wondered whether his own logic was faulty, since he based his arguments on geometry, whose infinitely divisible lines automatically reject atomism.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife