Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To divide a part or parts of into smaller parts.
  • intransitive verb To divide into a number of parts, especially to divide (land) into lots.
  • intransitive verb To form into subdivisions.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In physical geography, a subordinate divide, as one between small streams in contrast with one between river systems.
  • To redivide after a first division.
  • To separate into subdivisions.
  • To become separated.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To be, or to become, subdivided.
  • transitive verb To divide the parts of (anything) into more parts; to part into smaller divisions; to divide again, as what has already been divided.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive, intransitive To divide into smaller sections.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb divide into smaller and smaller pieces
  • verb form into subdivisions

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

sub- +‎ divide

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Examples

  • Once the basic shape is OK, you can 'subdivide' the planes with the click of a button and add more detail.

    Plane Heads James Gurney 2009

  • Edison wanted to "subdivide" the light by using the softer glow obtained when electricity passes through a filament and heats it up until it glows.

    Wired Top Stories Randy Alfred 2010

  • The most efficient way to handle multiple icing colors is to make a big batch of icing, then subdivide it, putting each into its own pastry bag and using them all at once.

    Decorating Bag Holder | Baking Bites 2009

  • Government is simplest when it is unspecific—it's when it starts trying to subdivide the population and impact only targeted groups that it becomes hard to administer think of how little trouble seniors have accessing a universal program like Social Security versus how much trouble the poor have trying to determine eligibility for a means-tested program like Medicaid.

    What happened to Obama-ism? Ezra Klein 2011

  • Then go back and prioritize your master list and arrange the items into broad categories that could serve as the navigation on your site: Books do you subdivide Fiction & Non-Fiction?

    David Henry Sterry: Does an Author Really Need a Website? Annik LaFarge on How to Be a More Effective Author Online David Henry Sterry 2011

  • America in particular is so diverse you could literally subdivide infinitely.

    Standing Pat 2009

  • Pleistocene faunas from south China are difficult to subdivide based on the long temporal ranges of many taxa and a reduced number of genera in comparison to faunas from temperate north China.

    Archive 2009-02-01 2009

  • St. Vincent's has tapped real-estate firm Eastern Consolidated to sell the land to a developer or home builder, who could build one or two large estates or subdivide the area into as many as 16 two-acre plots.

    St. Vincent's Land for Sale Shelly Banjo 2011

  • To further frustrate the development, the purchasers of the campaign plots were encouraged to subdivide and sell on their land.

    Did Alice's Meadow save Otmoor? 2009

  • Some mutual-fund companies are creating funds that subdivide their holdings into different portions, and are employing specialists and even outside firms to oversee each "sleeve."

    One Fund, Many Experts Michael A. Pollock 2010

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