dichotomize
English edit
Etymology edit
From Ancient Greek διχότομος (dikhótomos) + -ize.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
dichotomize (third-person singular simple present dichotomizes, present participle dichotomizing, simple past and past participle dichotomized)
- (transitive) To separate into two parts, to classify into two classes, or to categorize into two categories.
- Synonym: binarize
- Hypernym: discretize
- 1623 December 26, Joseph Hall, “Sermon XI: The Glory of the Latter House”, in The Works of Joseph Hall, D.D., volume 5, Oxford: D. A. Talboys, published 1837, page 165:
- The apostolical benediction dichotomizes all good things into grace and peace.
- 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 49:
- Also, societies cannot be dichotomized into hunter-gatherer bands and agricultural civilizations.
- (intransitive) To be divided into two.
- (astronomy) To exhibit as a half disk.
- 1837, Rev. William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences from the Earliest to the Present Time, volume 1, pages 155–156:
- If the moon was a perfectly smooth sphere […] the place when she was dichotomized, […] would depend upon the sun's distance from the earth.
Synonyms edit
- See also Thesaurus:bisect