demarcation
nounUK /ˌdɛm.ɑːˈkeɪ.ʃən/ · CA, US /ˌdɛm.ɑɹˈkeɪ.ʃən/
Etymology First recorded c.1752, from Spanish línea de demarcación and/or Portuguese linha de demarcação, the demarcation line laid down by the Pope on May 4, 1493, dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal on a line 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Both derive from demarcar, from de- + marcar (“to mark”), from Italian marcare, from the same Germanic root as march.
1
The act of marking off a boundary or setting a limit, notably by belligerents signing a treaty or ceasefire.
2
A limit thus fixed, in full demarcation line.
- About sunset, he was leaning on the remains of an old wall, which had once probably surrounded a Roman encampment, and now served as a line of demarcation between two villages, as jealous of each other's claims as near neighbours usually are.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 48–49:
3
Any strictly defined separation.
- There is an alleged, in fact somewhat artificial demarcation in the type of work done by members of different trade unions.
- In the sea there is no demarcation between the hunter and the hunted, as there is on the African plains.1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 7:
1 more example
- Certainly no clear line of demarcation has as yet been drawn between species and sub-species—that is, the forms which in the opinion of some naturalists come very near to, but do not quite arrive at the rank of species; or, again, between sub-species and well-marked varieties, or between lesser varieties and individual differences. These differences blend into each other in an insensible series; and a series impresses the mind with the idea of an actual passage.1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species:
- Derived terms
- demarcate, demarcated, demarcational
- Related terms
- demarc, demarcation line, demarcation potential, demark, marcation