dichotomy
noun
Simple meaning
Such a division involving apparently incompatible or opposite principles.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dykahtuhmeeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
daɪˈkɑtəmi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Such a division involving apparently incompatible or opposite principles; a duality.
botany
Division and subdivision; bifurcation, such as that of a stem of a plant or a vein of the body into two parts as it proceeds from its origin; often successive.
logic
A separation or division into two; a distinction that results in such a division.
logic
The division of a class into two disjoint subclasses that are together comprehensive, as the division of human into female and male.
logicbiologytaxonomy
The division of a genus into two species; a division into two subordinate parts.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Such a division involving apparently incompatible or opposite principles; a duality.
Used this way, dichotomy is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use dichotomy
- “The dichotomy between eastern and western culture.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.