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dichotomy - 6 dictionary results

di⋅chot⋅o⋅my

  [dahy-kot-uh-mee]
Use dichotomy in a Sentence
–noun, plural -mies.
1. division into two parts, kinds, etc.; subdivision into halves or pairs.
2. division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups: a dichotomy between thought and action.
3. Botany. a mode of branching by constant forking, as in some stems, in veins of leaves, etc.
4. Astronomy. the phase of the moon or of an inferior planet when half of its disk is visible.
Origin:
1600–10; < Gk dichotomía. See dicho-, -tomy

Related forms:
di⋅cho⋅tom⋅ic  [dahy-kuh-tom-ik] , adjective
di⋅cho⋅tom⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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di·chot·o·my   (dī-kŏt'ə-mē)   
n.   pl. di·chot·o·mies
  1. Division into two usually contradictory parts or opinions: "the dichotomy of the one and the many" (Louis Auchincloss).
  2. Astronomy The phase of the moon, Mercury, or Venus when half of the disk is illuminated.
  3. Botany Branching characterized by successive forking into two approximately equal divisions.

[Greek dikhotomiā, from dikhotomos, divided in two : dikho-, dicho- + temnein, to cut; see tem- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Dichotomy

Di*chot"o*my\, n. [Gr. ?, fr. ?: cf. F. dichotomie. See Dichotomous.]

1. A cutting in two; a division.

A general breach or dichotomy with their church. --Sir T. Browne.

2. Division or distribution of genera into two species; division into two subordinate parts.

3. (Astron.) That phase of the moon in which it appears bisected, or shows only half its disk, as at the quadratures.

4. (Biol.) Successive division and subdivision, as of a stem of a plant or a vein of the body, into two parts as it proceeds from its origin; successive bifurcation.

5. The place where a stem or vein is forked.

6. (Logic) Division into two; especially, the division of a class into two subclasses opposed to each other by contradiction, as the division of the term man into white and not white.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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dichotomy 
1610, from Gk. dichotomia "a cutting in half," from dicha "in two" + temnein "to cut" (see tome).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: di·chot·o·my
Pronunciation: dI-'kät-&-mE also d&-
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -mies
: a division or forking into branches; especially : repeated bifurcation
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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dichotomy

(from Greek dicha, "apart," and tomos, "cutting"), a form of logical division consisting of the separation of a class into two subclasses, one of which has and the other has not a certain quality or attribute. Men thus may be divided into professional men and men who are not professionals; each of these may be subdivided similarly. On the principle of contradiction this division is both exhaustive and exclusive; there can be no overlapping, and no members of the original genus or the lower groups are omitted. This method of classification, though formally accurate, has slight value in the exact sciences, partly because at every step one of the two groups is merely negatively characterized and is usually an artificial, motley class; but it sets forth clearly the gradual descent from the most inclusive genus (summum genus) through species to the lowest class (infima species), which is divisible only into individual persons or things.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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