1. a. The act or process of dividing. b. The state of having been divided.

2. The proportional distribution of a quantity or entity.

3. Something, such as a boundary or partition, that serves to divide or keep separate.

4. One of the parts, sections, or groups into which something is divided.

5. a. An area of government or corporate activity organized as an administrative or functional unit. b. A territorial section marked off for political or governmental purposes.

6. a. An administrative and tactical military unit that is smaller than a corps but is self-contained and equipped for prolonged combat activity. b. A group of several ships of similar type forming a tactical unit under a single command in the U.S. Navy. c. A unit of the U.S. Air Force larger than a wing and smaller than an air force.

7. Botany. The highest taxonomic category, consisting of one or more related classes, and corresponding approximately to a phylum in zoological classification.

8. A category created for purposes of competition, as in boxing.

9. a. Variance of opinion; disagreement. b. A splitting into factions; disunion.

10. The physical separation and regrouping of members of a parliament according to their stand on an issue put to vote.

11. Mathematics. The operation of determining how many times one quantity is contained in another; the inverse of multiplication.

12. Biology. Cell division.

13. A type of propagation characteristic of plants that spread by means of newly formed parts such as bulbs, suckers, or rhizomes.