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Showing results for département. Search instead for dpartement.

département

American  
[dey-par-tuh-mahn] / deɪ par təˈmɑ̃ /

noun

French.
départements plural
  1. department.


département British  
/ departəmɑ̃ /

noun

  1. (in France) a major subdivision or branch of the administration of the government

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of département

C18: from départir to divide; see depart

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.

See Examples For:

The département of Lot in south-west France is one of the country's most rural.

From BBC Apr. 9, 2023

Though the Gers does have one grande randonnée route — a multiday loop that starts and ends in Auch — the département is a paradise for day hikers.

From New York Times Mar. 15, 2017

Even a week or so spent eating and drinking your way around the Gers, the 60-mile-wide département that constitutes Gascony’s heartland, is enough to spark a lifelong love affair.

From New York Times Mar. 15, 2017

French Guiana – despite being a French département, the rough equivalent of an American county – is marooned on South America’s northern shore, and suffers accordingly from low name recognition.

From New York Times Jan. 17, 2012

The two days' diligence journey from Grenoble to the département des Hautes-Alpes was over one of those broad macadamized highways which make driving a luxury in many parts of Europe.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 102, June, 1876 by Various

Much of what’s happening now—the weather service’s “red alerts” for 20 French départements, for example—is policy that’s a direct result of that summer.

From Slate Jul. 25, 2019

In Haiti, which now imports 80% of its food, the government has focused development on the capital and not rural areas in the surrounding départements.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 23, 2010

It is not without interest here to note that the Federalist leader proposed the very measures which had been adopted in France when the old provinces were divided into départements.

From Thomas Jefferson The Apostle of Americanism by Chinard, Gilbert

In the first place, Montbéliard is one of the most enlightened, best educated, and most Protestant départements of all France.

From Holidays in Eastern France by Betham-Edwards, Matilda

The préfets of the various départements, the bureaucracy of provinces and cities, are not only amazed but struck with terror: "This is a new Revolution!" they cry in dismay.

From The Bronze Eagle A Story of the Hundred Days by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness

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