subdivision

American  

[suhb-di-vizh-uhn] / ˈsʌb dɪˌvɪʒ ən /

noun

1. the act or fact of subdividing.

2. a product of subdividing, as a section of a department.

3. a portion of land divided into lots for real-estate development.

4. Botany, Mycology. a category of related classes within a division or phylum.

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subdivision British  

/ ˈsʌbdɪˌvɪʒən /

noun

1. the process, instance, or state of being divided again following upon an earlier division

2. a portion that is the result of subdividing

3. a tract of land for building resulting from subdividing land

4. a housing development built on such a tract

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subdivisional
  adjective

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.

Example Sentences

The Craftsman-style subdivision, built on a former school site, was newly completed and mostly sold when the Eaton fire destroyed seven of its 16 homes and rendered the rest uninhabitable.

From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 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

Neighbors rode bikes and walked the streets of the desert subdivision.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026

Some eight workers were arrested in a chaotic scene of laborers running away from federal vehicles racing through the three-street subdivision at high speed, the builders said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

Park Forest, it turns out, was one of America’s first fully planned communities—not just a housing subdivision, but a full village designed for about thirty thousand people, with shopping malls, churches, schools, and parks.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

Related Words

• tract