segment

American  

[seg-muhnt, seg-ment, seg-ment] / ˈsɛg mənt, ˈsɛg mɛnt, sɛgˈmɛnt /

noun

• segments
  plural

1. one of the parts into which something naturally separates or is divided; a division, portion, or section.

   a segment of an orange.

2. Geometry.

   1. a part cut off from a figure, especially a circular or spherical one, by a line or plane, as a part of a circular area contained by an arc and its chord or by two parallel lines or planes.

   2. Also called line segment. a finite section of a line.

3. Zoology.

   1. any of the rings that compose the body of an annelid or arthropod.

   2. any of the discrete parts of the body of an animal, especially of an arthropod.

4. an object, as a machine part, having the form of a segment or sector of a circle.

5. Computers.

   1. a portion of a program, often one that can be loaded and executed independently of other portions.

   2. a unit of data in a database.

6. an arclike support on which the typebars of a typewriter rest when not in use.

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verb (used with or without object)

• segments,
  present (3rd person singular)
• segmented,
  past participle,  past
• segmenting
  present participle

1. to separate or divide into segments.

segment British  

/ ˈsɛɡməntərɪ, -trɪ /

noun

1. maths

   1. a part of a line or curve between two points

   2. a part of a plane or solid figure cut off by an intersecting line, plane, or planes, esp one between a chord and an arc of a circle

2. one of several parts or sections into which an object is divided; portion

3. zoology any of the parts into which the body or appendages of an annelid or arthropod are divided

4. linguistics a speech sound considered in isolation

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verb

1. to cut or divide (a whole object) into segments

segment Scientific  

/ sĕg′mənt /

1. The portion of a line between any two of its points.

2. The region bounded by an arc of a circle and the chord that connects the endpoints of the arc.

3. The portion of a sphere included between a pair of parallel planes that intersect it or are tangent to it.

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Synonym Usage

See part.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intersegment
  noun
• multisegment
  adjective
• multisegmented
  adjective
• nonsegmentary
  adjective
• nonsegmented
  adjective
• segmentary
  adjective
• segmentate
  adjective
• unsegmentary
  adjective
• unsegmented
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• segments
  plural

Participles

• segmenting
  present
• segmented
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• segment
  simple
• segments
  simple
• have segmented
  perfect
• has segmented
  perfect
• am segmenting
  progressive
• are segmenting
  progressive
• is segmenting
  progressive
• have been segmenting
  perfect progressive
• has been segmenting
  perfect progressive

Past

• segmented
  simple
• had segmented
  perfect
• was segmenting
  progressive
• were segmenting
  progressive
• had been segmenting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will segment
  simple
• will have segmented
  perfect
• will be segmenting
  progressive
• will have been segmenting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of segment

First recorded in 1560–70; from Latin segmentum, equivalent to sec(āre) “to cut” + -mentum -ment

Explanation

A segment is one of several pieces that together create a whole. You could offer a segment of your orange to your girlfriend as a Valentine's Day gift. She’ll probably enjoy the orange, but she may break up with you. Lots of things can have segments. You can talk about a segment of a talk show, a segment of a sphere, or the segment of students in your high school who want to join the Drama Club — the ones singing and dancing in the cafeteria every day. You can also use segment as a verb: when you chop down that oak tree in your front yard, you have to segment the trunk into smaller pieces for firewood.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

segment segments segmented segmenting

On stage you get to hear more nuances — on “Weekend Update” it’s a short segment, and I’m splitting time with Colin and guests.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Wood’s execution generated extensive publicity, including a “60 Minutes” segment in which I, then a Ninth Circuit judge, was interviewed, and then nothing happened.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Banks don’t report their segment results in a uniform manner, so here is a look at consensus estimates for third-quarter noninterest income among analysts polled by FactSet, with expected sequential and year-over-year changes.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 11, 2026

Drugmakers such as Novartis and other devicemakers have been investing in the segment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

He was not as accomplished a speaker, but as a former slave spoke for a large segment of the farm.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

Chinese automakers will focus more on quality, brand and high price segments instead of only relying on tax subsidies for low-margin, excessive export volumes, he says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The resulting structure is known as boudinage, a geological process in which a relatively strong layer or body of rock is pulled into separate segments as the surrounding material deforms.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026

Bartlett had created the character almost a decade earlier, after a stint producing claymation segments for “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

The page also posted a grid of Sun's "splits" - which are the times taken to complete different 5km segments of the race.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

“I’d noticed that some segments on Sesame Street elicited a lot of interaction from kids, where the segments asked for it,” says Daniel Anderson, who worked with Nickelodeon in designing Blue’s Clues.

From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell

Reaching Gen Z means shifting toward more segmented channels like Instagram and TikTok, a move the company says it is now making.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Segments 1 through 9 carried segmented appendages, and the rear abdominal limbs had been modified into paddle-like structures.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

The 2025 SDR, external recommended a new "segmented approach" to MoD defence procurement to deliver contracts within two years.

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026

Public transit there feels more segmented, so traveling to Oakland can take a long time, and getting to outdoor or hiking destinations isn’t really feasible without a car.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 22, 2026

He saw a lot of insects, spiders, and shiny, segmented beetles, going in and out of the twigs.

From "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill

The rise of Geese reflects Gen Z’s broad interest in music from decades-past, which they have unfettered access to thanks to streaming, and a distaste for segmenting sounds into genres, industry observers say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025

Donets recommends segmenting your customer base as granularly as possible so that you can precisely tailor your messaging and offerings.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 9, 2023

Once you get really good at segmenting people or giving them the right recommendations, you have to have a different way to follow up with every single person.

From The Verge ● Feb. 1, 2022

The report, over 300 pages long, did not indicate that anyone questioned the segmenting maneuver performed that morning.

From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2020

Blastoderm, blas′to-derm, n. an embryological term applied to the layer or layers of cells arising from the germinal disc, or the portion of a partially segmenting egg which undergoes division.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

Related Words

• division
• piece
• portion
• section
• sector
• slice