divide
verb OPAL WOPAL S
/dɪˈvaɪd/
/dɪˈvaɪd/
Verb Forms
Idioms present simple I / you / we / they divide | /dɪˈvaɪd/ /dɪˈvaɪd/ |
he / she / it divides | /dɪˈvaɪdz/ /dɪˈvaɪdz/ |
past simple divided | /dɪˈvaɪdɪd/ /dɪˈvaɪdɪd/ |
past participle divided | /dɪˈvaɪdɪd/ /dɪˈvaɪdɪd/ |
-ing form dividing | /dɪˈvaɪdɪŋ/ /dɪˈvaɪdɪŋ/ |
- The cells began to divide rapidly.
- divide into something The questions divide into two categories: easy and hard.
- divide up After lunch we divided up for group discussions.
- divide something (into something) I divided the class into four groups.
- Divide the dough into four pieces.
- The book is divided into 11 sections.
- divide something up (into something) A sentence can be divided up into meaningful segments.
Extra ExamplesTopics Biologyb1- 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.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- broadly
- roughly
- exactly
- …
- into
- divide in two
- They could not agree on how to divide the land.
- divide something up Jack divided up the rest of the cash.
- divide something (up) between somebody We divided the work between us.
- divide something (up) among somebody 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.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- equally
- among
- between
- divide something As working parents we think carefully about how we divide our time.
- divide something between A and B 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.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- equally
- among
- between
- Where the path divides, keep right.
- divide into something The river divides into several channels.
Extra ExamplesTopics Transport by car or lorryb1- 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.
- [transitive] divide A from B (formal) 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.
- [transitive] to be the real or imaginary line or barrier that separates two people or things synonym separate
- divide something (off) A fence divides off the western side of the grounds.
- divide A from B 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
- divide something by something 30 divided by 6 is 5 (= 30 ÷ 6 = 5).
- divide by something It's easy to divide by ten.
- The children are learning how to multiply and divide.
- [intransitive, transitive] divide (something) into something to be able to be multiplied to give another number
- 5 divides into 30 6 times.
- divide somebody/something to divide the nation/country
- This issue has bitterly divided the community.
- The building divides opinion (= some people like it and some do not).
- be divided on/over something The party is deeply divided on this question.
- to be evenly/sharply divided over the issue
Extra ExamplesTopics Opinion and argumentb2- 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.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- bitterly
- deeply
- seriously
- …
- be divided about something
- be divided on something
- be divided over something
- …
- [intransitive] (+ adv./prep.) (of two or more people) to disagree
- Communities frequently divided along racial lines.
separate
mathematics
disagreement
Word OriginMiddle English (as a verb): from Latin dividere ‘force apart, remove’. The noun dates from the mid 17th cent.
Idioms
divide and rule
- 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
split/divide (something) down the middle
- 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.