divisive

English

Etymology

From dīvīs-, past-participle stem of Latin dīvidere (“to divide”) +‎ -ive.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈvaɪsɪv/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /dɪˈvaɪsɪv/, /dɪˈvɪsɪv/, /dɪˈvɪzɪv/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪsɪv

Adjective

divisive (comparative more divisive, superlative most divisive)

1. Having a quality that divides or separates.

   Synonym: disunifying

   Antonym: unifying

   Rather than fostering unity, he becomes divisive.

   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, chapter 6, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk), page 66:

     [W]hat a change has introduced itself everywhere into human affairs! [...] all is grown acrid, divisive, threatening dissolution; [...]

Antonyms

• combinative
• agglomerative

Derived terms

• divisively
• divisiveness

Translations

having a quality that divides or separates

• Finnish: erottava (fi), hajottava (fi), erimielisyyttä aiheuttava (causing disunity), mielipiteitä jakava (dividing opinions)
• French: clivant (fr)
• German: spaltend (de), entzweiend (de), teilend (de)
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: 分割的な (bunkatsuteki na)
• Macedonian: раздорен (razdoren)
• Malayalam: ഭിന്നിപ്പിക്കുന്ന (bhinnippikkunna)
• Polish: dzielący (pl) m, rozdzielający (pl) m
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: раскольнический (ru) (raskolʹničeskij)
• Spanish: divisivo