subdivision
Americannoun
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subdivisions
plural
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the act or fact of subdividing.
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a product of subdividing, as a section of a department.
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a portion of land divided into lots for real-estate development.
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Botany, Mycology. a category of related classes within a division or phylum.
noun
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the process, instance, or state of being divided again following upon an earlier division
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a portion that is the result of subdividing
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a tract of land for building resulting from subdividing land
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a housing development built on such a tract
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of subdivision
1545–55; < Late Latin subdīvīsiōn- (stem of subdīvīsiō ), equivalent to subdīvīs ( us ) (past participle of subdīvīdere to subdivide ) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
When something large or complex is split into smaller parts, you can call each part a subdivision. The act of separating something into parts is also called subdivision. In North America, when someone mentions a subdivision, they probably mean a suburban neighborhood. When planned communities are designed, developers subdivide the plots of land to make it easier to sell them. If a botanist talks about subdivisions, she means something completely different: a ranked group of plants. No matter how the word is used, a subdivision is basically a smaller section of a section, or a part of something that's divided.
Vocabulary lists containing subdivision
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:
Woody Fincham, a real-estate appraiser in Virginia, agrees that a data center going up right next door to a residential property or a subdivision could have an effect on property values.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
However, those areas may be less sensitive to this kind of development than a residential subdivision.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
"This reflects a complex history of population subdivision, in which different populations lived in different regions and habitat types."
From Science Daily ● May 20, 2026
About 20 miles south of downtown Cincinnati, the new Publix sits just past a roundabout at the front entrance of a glitzy subdivision known as Triple Crown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
Owned by her brother Andy, it was a three-bedroom ranch in a subdivision outside the city.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Fitch’s rankings include both the larger metropolitan statistical areas, as well as metropolitan divisions, which are subdivisions of larger metro areas.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Decades ago, state lawmakers were concerned about too many farms being turned into new subdivisions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
In 2025, Texas passed bills legalizing housing on commercially zoned land and subdivisions of starter homes, which were rendered difficult or illegal to build by municipal zoning laws, large lot requirements, or other design requirements.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
Those principles include compactness, contiguity and the preservation of political subdivisions, including cities and counties, and “communities of interest” that have geography, culture or an economic sector in common.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
To the north, the hills and rainforests of Lynn Canyon Park snaked between the subdivisions of North Vancouver until they gave way to the wilderness.
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
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.
