the decomposition of a set into disjoint subsets whose union is the original set: A partition of the set (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) is the collection of subsets (1), (2, 3), (4), and (5).

10.

Rhetoric. (in a speech organized on classical principles) the second, usually brief section or part in which a speaker announces the chief lines of thought to be discussed in support of his or her theme.

COLLAPSE

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verb (used with object)

11.

to divide into parts or portions.

12.

to divide or separate by interior walls, barriers, or the like (sometimes followed by off): to partition off a dormitory into cubicles.

13.

to divide (a country or territory) into separate, usually differing political entities. Compare Balkanize.

14.

Law. to divide property among several owners, either in specie or by sale and division of the proceeds.

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Partition is always a great word to know.

So is abate. Does it mean:

a person, as a complainant or chief witness, instigating prosecution in a criminal proceeding

to put an end to or suppress a nuisance; to annul a writ

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Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin partītiōn- (stem of partītiō) division, equivalent to partīt(us) past participle of partīrī to divide (see party) + -iōn- -ion

Related forms

par·ti·tion·a·ble, adjective

par·ti·tion·ar·y, adjective

par·ti·tion·er, par·ti·tion·ist, noun

par·ti·tion·ment, noun

pre·par·ti·tion, noun, verb (used with object)

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sub·par·ti·tion, noun

sub·par·ti·tioned, adjective

sub·par·ti·tion·ment, noun

un·par·ti·tioned, adjective

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
1. See division. 11. portion, apportion.

Antonyms
2. unity. 11. unite.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To partition

Collins

World English Dictionary

partition (pɑːˈtɪʃən)

—n
1.	a division into parts; separation
2.	something that separates, such as a large screen dividing a room in two
3.	a part or share
4.	a division of a country into two or more separate nations
5.	property law a division of property, esp realty, among joint owners
6.	maths any of the ways by which an integer can be expressed as a sum of integers
7.	logic, maths
	a. the division of a class into a number of disjoint and exhaustive subclasses
	b. such a set of subclasses
8.	biology a structure that divides or separates
9.	rhetoric the second part of a speech where the chief lines of thought are announced

—vb
10.	(often foll by off) to separate or apportion into sections: to partition a room off with a large screen
11.	to divide (a country) into two or more separate nations
12.	property law to divide (property, esp realty) among joint owners, by dividing either the property itself or the proceeds of sale

[C15: via Old French from Latin partītiō, from partīre to divide]

par'titioner

—n

par'titionist

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

partition

c.1430, "division into shares, distinction," from O.Fr. particion, from L. partitionem (nom. partitio) "division, portion," from partitus, pp. of partire "to part" (see part (v.)). Sense of "that which separates" first recorded 1486. The verb is from 1741.

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

partition par·ti·tion (pär-tĭsh'ən)
n.

The act or process of dividing something into parts.
The state of being so divided.
A wall, septum, or other separating membrane in an organism.

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

partition definition

A division of a nation or territory into two or more nations. Cyprus, Germany, India, Ireland, Korea, Palestine, and Vietnam are notable examples of countries that have undergone partition.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

partition definition

1. A logical section of a disk. Each partition normally has its own file system. Unix tends to treat partitions as though they were separate physical entities.
2. A division of a set into subsets so that each of its elements is in exactly one subset.
(1996-12-09)

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Matching Quote

"Perhaps that's what I feel, an outside and an inside and me in the middle, perhaps that's what I am, the thing that divides the world in two, on the one side the outside, on the other the inside, that can be as thin as foil, I'm neither one side nor the other, I'm in the middle, I'm the partition, I've two surfaces and no thickness, perhaps that's what I feel, myself vibrating, I'm the tympanum, on the one hand the mind, on the other the world, I don't belong to either."

-Samuel Beckett

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