dichotomize
verbUK /dʌɪˈkɒtəmʌɪz/
Etymology From Ancient Greek διχότομος (dikhótomos) + -ize.
1
To separate into two parts, to classify into two classes, or to categorize into two categories.
- The apostolical benediction dichotomizes all good things into grace and peace.1623 December 26, Joseph Hall, “Sermon XI: The Glory of the Latter House”, in The Works of Joseph Hall, D.D., volume 5, Oxford: D. A. Talboys, published 1837, page 165:
- Also, societies cannot be dichotomized into hunter-gatherer bands and agricultural civilizations.2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 49:
2
To be divided into two.
3
Astronomy, Natural sciences To exhibit as a half disk.
- If the moon was a perfectly smooth sphere […] the place when she was dichotomized, […] would depend upon the sun's distance from the earth.1837, Rev. William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences from the Earliest to the Present Time, volume 1, pages 155–156:
- Derived terms
- dichotomization
- Related terms
- dichotomy