subdivision
Americannoun
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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.
We see how the form of a finial was generated by the progressive subdivision of a square, precisely the same process by which the mason would incise and cut his stone.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 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
With the split finalized, Curry will retain rights to the “Curry Brand,” a subdivision within Under Armour, and he intends to take it forward independently, which could include teaming with another retail partner.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 14, 2025
The bus swung through the winding streets of The Farm, the subdivision that was made out of the Sillington place.
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
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.
