department

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

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Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Translations 1.3.2 Derived terms 1.4 See also

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From French département.

[edit] Pronunciation

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[edit] Noun

department (plural departments)

1. A part, portion, or subdivision.
2. A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province.

   • Superior to Pope in Pope's own peculiar department of literature. Thomas Babington Macaulay.

3. Subdivision of business or official duty; especially, one of the principal divisions of executive government; as, the treasury department; the war department; also, in a university, one of the divisions of instructions; as, the medical department; the department of physics.
4. A territorial division; a district; esp., in France, one of the districts composed of several arrondissements into which the country is divided for governmental purposes; as, the Department of the Loire.
5. A military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac.
6. (obsolete) Act of departing; departure.

   • Sudden departments from one extreme to another. Wotton.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Derived terms

• departmental
• departmentally

[edit] See also

• province
• state