dichotomous
adjUK /daɪˈkɒt.ə.məs/ · US /daɪˈkɑ.tə.məs/
Etymology From Late Latin dichotomos, from Ancient Greek διχότομος (dikhótomos, “cut in half”). By surface analysis, dichotomy + -ous.
1
Dividing or branching into two mutually exclusive pieces.
- Genus Riccia L. Plants are thalloid, forming rosettes or loose, dichotomous patches.1992, Marie L. Hicks, Guide to the Liverworts of North Carolina, page 197:
- The second half of the book switches to the increasingly dark story of how, from the 17th century onwards, European thinkers and politicians constructed a more and more dichotomous worldview.2023 February 23, Fara Dabhoiwala, “The West by Naoíse Mac Sweeney review – history rediscovered”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- Derived terms
- dichotomous key, dichotomously, dichotomousness, isodichotomous, nondichotomous, pseudodichotomous, subdichotomous, undichotomous
- Related terms
- dichotomy