Divided Divide Groups Separate Extra Examples Parts People

• the cells began to divide rapidly.
• the questions divide into two categories: easy and hard.
• after lunch we divided up for group discussions.
• i divided the class into four groups.

divide

Verb Forms

1. to separate into parts; to make something separate into parts
• SYNONYM split up
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/split_1
• The cells began to divide rapidly.
• The questions divide into two categories: easy and hard.
• After lunch we divided up for group discussions.
• I divided the class into four groups.
• Divide the dough into four pieces.
• The book is divided into 11 sections.
• A sentence can be divided up into meaningful segments.

Extra Examples

• Railway enthusiasts divide neatly into two groups.
• We have divided the topics into three categories.
• The study divided consumers into five groups.
• Films tend to divide into two categories: ‘art-house’ and ‘commercial’.
• The performance is divided into six parts.
• The children divided into three teams.
• The country is divided up into nine regions.
• They were randomly divided into three groups.
• This report is divided broadly into two parts.
• First, divide the class into two groups.
• The city was divided into four sectors.
• Flimsy partitions divided up the gallery into claustrophobic rooms.
• We decided to divide the space with screens.
2. to separate something into parts and give a share to each of a number of different people, etc.
• SYNONYM share (3)
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/share_1#share_sng_2
• They could not agree on how to divide the land.
• Jack divided up the rest of the cash.
• We divided the work between us.
• Profits were divided up among the staff.
• The money was divided equally among his sons.

Extra Examples

• The story is about a father who divides his property among his sons.
• Space is divided according to the needs of individual departments.
• Most of the collection was divided among the city's museums.
• They carefully divided up the cost of the vacations they took together.
• The exhibition features the work of 60 artists, evenly divided between well-known and less-familiar figures.
3. to use different parts of your time, energy, etc. for different activities, etc.
• As working parents we think carefully about how we divide our time.
• He divides his energies between politics and business.

Extra Examples

• They divided their time between London and Boston.
• They divide their time between New York and their ranch in New Mexico.
• Her mentor advised her to divide her efforts 80–20, with 80% going to research, and 20% to teaching.
• The children of immigrants may divide their loyalties between their birth country and their parents'.
• He divides his year between the University of Houston and Florida State University.
4. to separate into two or more parts that lead in different directions
• Where the path divides, keep right.
• The river divides into several channels.

Extra Examples

• Just past the bridge by a new forestry block, the paths divide.
• There's a signpost where the road divides.
• The nearest restaurant is located opposite, just before the road divides.
• He overtook at the point where the road divides into two lanes.
• Here the river divides into about four separate streams.
• Streams divide and unite across the plain.
5. to separate two people or things
• Can it ever be right to divide a mother from her child?
• The landowners were divided from the mass of poor peasants who lived in the surrounding area.
6. to be the real or imaginary line or barrier that separates two people or things
• SYNONYM separate
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/separate_2
• A fence divides off the western side of the grounds.
• The English Channel divides England from France.

Extra Examples

• A low wall divides the patio from the rest of the garden.
• Britain is divided from the rest of Europe by the English Channel.
• the mountains which divide Europe from Asia
7. to find out how many times one number is contained in another
• 30 divided by 6 is 5 (= 30 ÷ 6 = 5).
• It's easy to divide by ten.
• The children are learning how to multiply and divide.
8. to be able to be multiplied to give another number
• 5 divides into 30 6 times.
9. to make people disagree
• SYNONYM split
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/split_2
• to divide the nation/country
• This issue has bitterly divided the community.
• The building divides opinion (= some people like it and some do not).
• The party is deeply divided on this question.
• to be evenly/sharply divided over the issue

Extra Examples

• The issue has divided the government.
• The presidential elections divided the nation.
• a country divided by war
• The case divided the New York art world at the time.
• a society that was divided along sectarian lines
• an issue that threatens to divide society
• I will not allow this to divide our family.
• Scholarly opinion is evenly divided on whether the portrait is of a Hellenistic prince or a Roman general.
10. to disagree
• Communities frequently divided along racial lines.
11. to keep control over people by making them disagree with and fight each other, therefore not giving them the chance to join together and oppose you
• a policy of divide and rule
12. to divide something into two equal parts; to divide into two equal parts
• The country was split down the middle over the strike (= half supported it, half did not).
• Divide the cake down the middle.
• It would seem the community has divided down the middle, with some favouring expansion and some dead set against it.

Word Origin

• Middle English (as a verb): from Latin dividere ‘force apart, remove’. The noun dates from the mid 17th cent.