divisive
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From dīvīs-, past-participle stem of Latin dīvidere (“to divide”) + -ive.[1]
Pronunciation[edit]
- (UK) IPA(key): /dɪˈvaɪsɪv/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (US, Canada) IPA(key): /dɪˈvaɪsɪv/, /dɪˈvɪsɪv/, /dɪˈvɪzɪv/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -aɪsɪv
Adjective[edit]
divisive (comparative more divisive, superlative most divisive)
- 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[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
having a quality that divides or separates
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References[edit]
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “divisive”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Categories:
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