department
noun OPAL S
/dɪˈpɑːtmənt/
/dɪˈpɑːrtmənt/
(abbreviation Dept)
Idioms - a section of a large organization such as a government, business, university, etc.
- department of something the Department of Health
- He is a lecturer in the department of psychology at Trinity College, Dublin.
- the Treasury Department
- a government/university, etc. department
- the marketing/sales, etc. department
- The children's department (= in a large store) sells a wide range of good quality clothes.
- the English department
- in a department She used to work in the IT department.
- He later served as head of the art history department.
Extra ExamplesTopics Educationa2, Businessa2, Working lifea2, Politicsa2, Shoppinga2- A new member of staff has joined the department.
- Complaints are dealt with in a different department.
- Contact our sales department for more information.
- Staff criticized the way the history department was run.
- The Tokyo police department is clamping down on organized crime.
- the Department for Transport
- to gain promotion within the department
- I work in the sales department.
- Several professors from the history department will also speak at the event.
- The Department of Trade and Industry refused to comment on the allegations.
Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French departement, from departir, based on Latin dispertire ‘to divide’. The original sense was ‘division or distribution’, later ‘separation’, hence ‘a separate part’ (core sense, mid 18th cent.).
Idioms
be somebody’s department
- (informal) to be something that somebody is responsible for or knows a lot about
- Don't ask me about it—that's her department.
in the… department
- (informal) in a particular aspect or quality
- He doesn't have much going for him in the brains department, to be honest.
- Movies lacking in the story department can still succeed.