section

A cutting; a part cut out from the rest of something.

Noun

  1. A cutting; a part cut out from the rest of something.
  2. A part, piece, subdivision of anything.
    • Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage...

    1. (music) A group of instruments in an orchestra.

      • The horn section is the group of symphonic musicians who play the French horn.
  3. A part of a document, especially a major part; often notated with §.
  4. An act or instance of cutting.
  5. A cross-section (image that shows an object as if cut along a plane).
    • Japan and China also produced Noah's arks, where Noah was known as Fohi. They were of wood and beautifully decorated, the animals being bright in color and usually flat in section and fixed to flat stands. - 1971, Gwen...

    1. (aviation) A cross-section perpendicular the longitudinal axis of an aircraft in flight.

    2. (topology) A function that generalizes the notion of the graph of a function; formally, a continuous right inverse to the projection map of a fiber bundle.

    3. (generalizing the topology sense, algebra, category theory) A right inverse of a morphism in some category

      Synonyms: split monomorphism

      Coordinate Terms: retraction

    4. (generalizing the topology sense in a different way, sheaf theory) An object which is defined by analogy with sections of fiber bundles but in a more general setting (that of sheaves). Formally, an element of the image of an open set under the action of a (pre-)sheaf.

      Hyponyms: global section

  6. An incision or the act of making an incision.

    1. (surgery, colloquial) Ellipsis of Caesarean section.

      • They had planned to go into my section scar but the surgeon didnʼt think he could see well enough. - 2021, Dr Philippa Kaye, Doctors Get Cancer Too, Vie Books, page 143:
  7. thin section, a thin slice of material prepared as a specimen for research.
  8. A taxonomic rank below the genus (and subgenus if present), but above the species.
  9. An informal taxonomic rank below the order ranks and above the family ranks.
  10. A group of 10-15 soldiers led by a non-commissioned officer and forming part of a platoon.
  11. A piece of residential land; a plot.
  12. Synonym of square mile, a unit of land area, especially in the contexts of Canadian surveys and American land grants and legal property descriptions.

    Synonyms: square mile

Origin

From Middle English seccioun, from Old French section, from Latin sectiō (“cutting, cutting off, excision, amputation of diseased parts of the body, etc.”), from sectus, past participle of secāre (“to cut”). More at saw.

Forms

sections

Synonyms

sectio cutting slice division part piece snippet

Antonyms

whole

Hyponyms

block section comment section cross section dead section half section horn section neutral section quarter section string section

Related

bisect dissect insect intersect prosect resect secant sect sectarian sectary section grid section road sector segment trisect

Derived

abdominal section bisection brass section channel section configuration section conic section cosection critical section cryosection C-section dissection downsection ecosection file section golden section hemisection histosection hypersection infrasection input-output section invariant section knothole section linkage section microsection

Verb

  1. To cut, divide or separate into pieces.
    • Overlap spans and neutral sections have been provided at intervals along the line, which is thus sectioned electrically, not only at the feeder station and track sectioning cabins, but also by switches at certain...
  2. To reduce to the degree of thinness required for study with the microscope.
  3. To commit (a person) to a hospital for mental health treatment as an involuntary patient. So called after various sections of legal acts regarding mental health.
    • Tribunals were set up as watchdogs in cases of compulsory detention (sectioning). […] Informal patients, however, could be sectioned, and this was often a fear of patients once they were in hospital. - 1998, Diana...
    • The doctor then sectioned her, making her an involuntary patient, and had her moved to a secure ward. - a. 2000, Lucy Johnstone, Users and Abusers of Psychiatry: A Critical Look at Psychiatric Practice, Second edition,...
    • After explaining that for 7 years, from ’88 to ’95, I was permanently sectioned under the Mental Health act, robbed of my freedom, my integrity, my rights, I wrote at the time;- […] - 2006, Mairi Colme, A Divine Dance...

    Synonyms: schedule

  4. To perform a cesarean section on (someone).
    • "But if she's gone into active labour she could be bleeding massively and you may have to section her there and then." - 2012, Anne Fraser, St. Piran's: Daredevil, Doctor...Dad!, Harlequin, page 16:
    • You may hear a physician say, "I don't want to section her until the baby declares itself." - 2008, Murray et al, Labor and Delivery Nursing: Guide to Evidence-Based Practice, Springer Publishing Company, page 57

Forms

sections sectioning sectioned