division

A major part of a large company that handles a particular type of work or product.

• She works in the sales division.
• The company sold its clothing division last year.
• Which division handles customer support?

How to use it: division of something (She manages the European division of the company.)

Similar words: department, branch

Common phrases: sales division, manufacturing division, company division

The act of separating a whole thing into smaller parts.

• We agreed on an equal division of the money.
• The division of the land caused several arguments.
• Clear division of labour helped the team finish quickly.

How to use it: division of something into something (The division of the land into small plots took months.); division of something between/among people (They agreed on the division of the money between the two families.)

Similar words: separation, splitting

Opposites: combination

Common phrases: division into parts, equal division, division of labour

A calculation that finds how many times one number fits into another.

• Today we are learning division.
• She solved the problem using long division.
• Division by zero is not allowed in ordinary arithmetic.

How to use it: division by a number (Division by two gives us six.)

Opposites: multiplication

Common phrases: long division, division by ten, division problem

A large group of soldiers made up of several smaller army units.

• The division moved north.
• Two infantry divisions defended the city.
• He commanded a division during the war.

Common phrases: infantry division, armoured division, army division

One of the parts into which a whole thing is separated.

• The book has three main divisions.
• Each division contains several smaller sections.
• The dance has four divisions with different rhythms.

How to use it: division of something (Each division of the book covers a different historical period.)

Similar words: section, part

Common phrases: major division, main division, division of something

A large scientific group of living things, below a kingdom and above a class.

• These plants belong to the same division.
• Botanists group the species into several divisions.
• A division contains several classes of related organisms.

Similar words: phylum

Common phrases: plant division, taxonomic division, division of fungi