bifurcate
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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bifurcates,
present (3rd person singular)
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bifurcated,
past participle, past
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bifurcating
present participle
adjective
verb
adjective
Usage
What does bifurcate mean? Birfurcate means to divide or fork into two branches. Things can bifurcate on their own or in an otherwise passive way, as in That’s where the river bifurcates into two branches, or they can be bifurcated by someone, as in We bifurcated the road into two lanes so more people could exit at once. The word bifurcate can be used as an adjective meaning divided into two branches, but the adjective bifurcated is more commonly used in this way. The word bifurcation refers to the act of bifurcating or something that is bifurcated. These terms are most often used in technical and scientific contexts, such as engineering and medicine. Example: The hiking trail bifurcates about three miles in, so make sure you go down the left branch.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bifurcatesimple
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bifurcatessimple
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have bifurcatedperfect
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has bifurcatedperfect
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am bifurcatingprogressive
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are bifurcatingprogressive
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is bifurcatingprogressive
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have been bifurcatingperfect progressive
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has been bifurcatingperfect progressive
Past
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bifurcatedsimple
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had bifurcatedperfect
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was bifurcatingprogressive
-
were bifurcatingprogressive
-
had been bifurcatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bifurcate
First recorded in 1605–15; from Medieval Latin bifurcātus “forked in two,” past participle of bifurcāre “to fork in two,” from bi- bi- 1 ( def. ) + furc(a) fork ( def. ) + -āre, infinitive verb suffix
Explanation
When you're walking through the woods, you sometimes see the path bifurcate, or split in two directions, and have to choose which way to continue. Bifurcate means "to divide into two branches." If you want to impress your friend (or annoy them) with your knowledge of big words, you can point out the place where "the river bifurcates", or the way tree branches "bifurcate again and again". Really what you're describing is anything that splits into forks or branches. The Latin root of bifurcate adds the prefix bi, or "two", to the word "furca", or fork.
Vocabulary lists containing bifurcate
Winning Words from the New York Times Learning Network / Vocabulary.com Student Vocab Video Contest
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Burning Blue
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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:
Feldstein Soto said the proposal to bifurcate the office has nothing to do with her performance.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026
“I told the staff at the White House today that our consensus among House Republicans is that we need to bifurcate those issues,” Mr. Johnson said Thursday in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 27, 2023
"History is going to bifurcate along two directions. One path is we stay on Earth forever, and then there will be some eventual extinction event," Musk said in 2016.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2023
The thing I've learned the last couple of years about myself is, I'm better when I bifurcate them.
From Salon ● Mar. 20, 2023
I need to know that ramify and bifurcate are synonyms, if they even are?
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
Finally, speciation refers to branching, when one species bifurcates into two different species.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 16, 2019
In Arizona, west of Nogales, the border wall bifurcates the lands of the Tohono O’odham people, who live on the second-largest reservation in the United States.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 4, 2019
Picture it: In the actors’ quarters a single hallway bifurcates six small dressing rooms, housing our cast of 26.
From New York Times ● Aug. 5, 2014
I-90 bifurcates the town; the overpass allows pedestrians to cross from one side to the other.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 22, 2014
When a trunk bifurcates, the larger branch usually receives the embolus.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
Jason Lemkin, founder of a SaaS organization called SaaStr, said the industry has bifurcated into companies that have embraced AI and are growing and others who haven’t and are struggling.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
And consumer spending has been resilient, albeit bifurcated, which has helped restaurants, retailers and travel companies.
From MarketWatch ● May 31, 2026
The country's growth model "has bifurcated into two distinct trends: weakening domestic demand and a shining performance in high-tech products", she said.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
On the other end of the spectrum, credit-card debt has risen to a record $1.3 trillion and more people are falling behind on payments, suggesting growing stress in an increasingly bifurcated economy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
The AEC chairman could not imagine how a bifurcated weapons program would operate or how the reduction in responsibility for the Super would affect morale on the New Mexico mesa.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
“Stocks are reflecting our bifurcating ‘Tale of Two Economies’ view, where booming AI fixed investment is outperforming squeezed consumers.”
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
Ziwei Cong, a marketing professor at Georgetown University, sees AI slop bifurcating the internet.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 29, 2025
“It’s this network where branches are bifurcating but also merging back together to create new species.”
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 17, 2024
Ryan's ad, intended to reach undecided voters, draws on the campaign-ad convention of bifurcating a clip into two parts, with more positive material in the second half.
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2022
Near the circumference of the larger leaves the bifurcating branches also come into close union, and then separate again, forming a continuous zigzag line of vessels round the whole circumference.
From Insectivorous Plants by Charles Darwin
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.
