Adjacent Words

Section definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SEC'TION, n. [L. sectio; seco, to cut off.]
1. The act of cutting or of separating by cutting; as the section of the bodies.
2. A part separated from the rest; a division.
3. In books and writings, a distinct part or portion; the subdivision of a chapter; the division of a law or other writing or instrument. In laws, a section is sometimes called a paragraph or article.
4. A distinct part of a city, town, country or people; a part of territory separated by geographecal lines, or of a people considered as distinct. Thus we say, the northern or eastern section of the United States, the middle section, the southern or western section.
5. In geometry, a side or surface of a body or figure cut off by another; or the place where lines, planes, etc. cut each other.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or musical); "he always turns first to the business section"; "the history of this work is discussed in the next section" [syn: section, subdivision]
2: a very thin slice (of tissue or mineral or other substance) for examination under a microscope; "sections from the left ventricle showed diseased tissue"
3: a distinct region or subdivision of a territorial or political area or community or group of people; "no section of the nation is more ardent than the South"; "there are three synagogues in the Jewish section"
4: one of several parts or pieces that fit with others to constitute a whole object; "a section of a fishing rod"; "metal sections were used below ground"; "finished the final segment of the road" [syn: section, segment]
5: a small team of policemen working as part of a police platoon
6: one of the portions into which something is regarded as divided and which together constitute a whole; "the written part of the exam"; "the finance section of the company"; "the BBC's engineering division" [syn: part, section, division]
7: a land unit equal to 1 square mile
8: (geometry) the area created by a plane cutting through a solid [syn: section, plane section]
9: a small class of students who are part of a larger course but are taught separately; "a graduate student taught sections for the professor's lecture course" [syn: section, discussion section]
10: a division of an orchestra containing all instruments of the same class
11: a small army unit usually having a special function
12: a specialized division of a large organization; "you'll find it in the hardware department"; "she got a job in the historical section of the Treasury" [syn: department, section]
13: a segment of a citrus fruit; "he ate a section of the orange"
14: the cutting of or into body tissues or organs (especially by a surgeon as part of an operation) [syn: incision, section, surgical incision] v
1: divide into segments; "segment an orange"; "segment a compound word" [syn: segment, section]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Latin section-, sectio, from secare to cut — more at saw Date: 1534 1. a. the action or an instance of cutting or separating by cutting b. a part set off by or as if by cutting 2. a distinct part or portion of something written (as a chapter, law, or newspaper) 3. a. the profile of something as it would appear if cut through by an intersecting plane b. the plane figure resulting from the cutting of a solid by a plane 4. a natural subdivision of a taxonomic group 5. a character § used as a mark for the beginning of a section and as a reference mark 6. a piece of land one square mile in area forming especially one of the 36 subdivisions of a township 7. a distinct part of a territorial or political area, community, or group of people <the historic section of the city> 8. a. a part that may be, is, or is viewed as separated <a board cut into sections> <the northern section of the route> b. one segment of a fruit ; carpel 9. a basic military unit usually having a special function 10. a very thin slice (as of tissue) suitable for microscopic examination 11. a. one of the classes formed by dividing the students taking a course b. one of the discussion groups into which a conference or organization is divided 12. a. a part of a permanent railroad way under the care of a particular crew b. one of two or more vehicles or trains which run on the same schedule 13. one of several component parts that may be assembled or reassembled <a bookcase in sections> 14. a division of an orchestra composed of one class of instruments <the string section> 15. signature 3b Synonyms: see part II. verb (sectioned; sectioning) Date: 1819 transitive verb 1. to cut or separate into sections <section an orange> 2. to represent in sections intransitive verb to become cut or separated into parts

U.S. Military Dictionary

1. As applied to ships or naval aircraft, a tactical subdivision of a division. It is normally one-half of a division in the case of ships, and two aircraft in the case of aircraft. 2. A subdivision of an office, installation, territory, works, or organization; especially a major subdivision of a staff. 3. A tactical unit of the Army and Marine Corps. A section is smaller than a platoon and larger than a squad. In some organizations the section, rather than the squad, is the basic tactical unit. 4. An area in a warehouse extending from one wall to the next; usually the largest subdivision of one floor.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a part cut off or separated from something. 2 each of the parts into which a thing is divided (actually or conceptually) or divisible or out of which a structure can be fitted together. 3 a distinct group or subdivision of a larger body of people (the wind section of an orchestra). 4 a subdivision of a book, document, statute, etc. 5 US a an area of land. b one square mile of land. c a particular district of a town (residential section). 6 a subdivision of an army platoon. 7 esp. Surgery a separation by cutting. 8 Biol. a thin slice of tissue etc., cut off for microscopic examination. 9 a the cutting of a solid by or along a plane. b the resulting figure or the area of this. 10 a representation of the internal structure of something as if cut across along a vertical or horizontal plane. 11 Biol. a group, esp. a subgenus. --v.tr. 1 arrange in or divide into sections. 2 Brit. cause (a person) to be compulsorily committed to a psychiatric hospital in accordance with a section of a mental health act. 3 Biol. cut into thin slices for microscopic examination. Phrases and idioms: section-mark the sign ( Usage: ) used as a reference mark to indicate the start of a section of a book etc. Etymology: F section or L sectio f. secare sect- cut

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Section Sec"tion, n. [L. sectio, fr. secare, sectum, to cut; akin to E. saw a cutting instrument: cf. F. section. See Saw, and cf. Scion, Dissect, Insect, Secant, Segment.] 1. The act of cutting, or separation by cutting; as, the section of bodies. 2. A part separated from something; a division; a portion; a slice. Specifically: (a) A distinct part or portion of a book or writing; a subdivision of a chapter; the division of a law or other writing; a paragraph; an article; hence, the character [sect], often used to denote such a division. It is hardly possible to give a distinct view of his several arguments in distinct sections. --Locke. (b) A distinct part of a country or people, community, class, or the like; a part of a territory separated by geographical lines, or of a people considered as distinct. The extreme section of one class consists of bigoted dotards, the extreme section of the other consists of shallow and reckless empirics. --Macaulay. (c) One of the portions, of one square mile each, into which the public lands of the United States are divided; one thirty-sixth part of a township. These sections are subdivided into quarter sections for sale under the homestead and pre["e]mption laws. 3. (Geom.) The figure made up of all the points common to a superficies and a solid which meet, or to two superficies which meet, or to two lines which meet. In the first case the section is a superficies, in the second a line, and in the third a point. 4. (Nat. Hist.) A division of a genus; a group of species separated by some distinction from others of the same genus; -- often indicated by the sign [sect]. 5. (Mus.) A part of a musical period, composed of one or more phrases. See Phrase. 6. The description or representation of anything as it would appear if cut through by any intersecting plane; depiction of what is beyond a plane passing through, or supposed to pass through, an object, as a building, a machine, a succession of strata; profile. Note: In mechanical drawing, as in these Illustrations of a cannon, a longitudinal section (a) usually represents the object as cut through its center lengthwise and vertically; a cross or transverse section (b), as cut crosswise and vertically; and a horizontal section (c), as cut through its center horizontally. Oblique sections are made at various angles. In architecture, a vertical section is a drawing showing the interior, the thickness of the walls, ets., as if made on a vertical plane passed through a building. Angular sections (Math.), a branch of analysis which treats of the relations of sines, tangents, etc., of arcs to the sines, tangents, etc., of their multiples or of their parts. [R.] Conic sections. (Geom.) See under Conic. Section liner (Drawing), an instrument to aid in drawing a series of equidistant parallel lines, -- used in representing sections. Thin sections, a section or slice, as of mineral, animal, or vegetable substance, thin enough to be transparent, and used for study under the microscope. Syn: Part; portion; division. Usage: Section, Part. The English more commonly apply the word section to a part or portion of a body of men; as, a section of the clergy, a small section of the Whigs, etc. In the United States this use is less common, but another use, unknown or but little known in England, is very frequent, as in the phrases ``the eastern section of our country,'' etc., the same sense being also given to the adjective sectional as, sectional feelings, interests, etc.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(sections, sectioning, sectioned) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A section of something is one of the parts into which it is divided or from which it is formed. He said it was wrong to single out any section of society for Aids testing... They moulded a complete new bow section for the boat. ...a large orchestra, with a vast percussion section. ...the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. N-COUNT: usu with supp see also cross-section 2. If something is sectioned, it is divided into sections. It holds vegetables in place while they are being peeled or sectioned. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed 3. A section of an official document such as a report, law, or constitution is one of the parts into which it is divided. ...section 14 of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. N-COUNT: usu N num 4. A section is a diagram of something such as a building or a part of the body. It shows how the object would appear to you if it were cut from top to bottom and looked at from the side. For some buildings a vertical section is more informative than a plan. N-COUNT 5. Caesarean section: see Caesarean

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Division, portion, part. 2. Segment, portion, part, piece.

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