Etimology
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.
noun
section (plural sections)
A cutting; a part cut out from the rest of something.
A part, piece, subdivision of anything.
A part of a document, especially a major part; often notated with §.
An act or instance of cutting.
A cross-section (image that shows an object as if cut along a plane).
(surgery) An incision or the act of making an incision.
(sciences) A thin slice of material prepared as a specimen for research.
(botany) A taxonomic rank below the genus (and subgenus if present), but above the species.
(zoology) An informal taxonomic rank below the order ranks and above the family ranks.
(military) A group of 10-15 soldiers led by a non-commissioned officer and forming part of a platoon.
(category theory) A right inverse.
(New Zealand) A piece of residential land; a plot.
(US, Canada, law and land surveying) Synonym of square mile, a unit of land area, especially in the contexts of Canadian surveys and American land grants and legal property descriptions.
The symbol §, denoting a section of a document.
(geology) A sequence of rock layers.
(Philippines, education) A class in a school; a group of students in a regularly scheduled meeting with a teacher in a certain school year or semester or school quarter year.
Examples
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 three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.
The horn section is the group of symphonic musicians who play the French horn.
Coordinate term: retraction Synonym: split monomorphism
Hyponym: global section
They had planned to go into my section scar but the surgeon didnʼt think he could see well enough.
Related words
synonyms
(botany, zoology): sectio
(piece created by cutting): cutting, slice
(any piece): division, part, slice, piece, snippet
antonyms
whole
hyponyms
block section
cross section
dead section
half section
horn section
neutral section
quarter section
coordinate terms
(square mile when described as a 'section'): acre (1/640 section), quarter-section (¼ section), labor (¼ section in Texan contexts)
coordinate terms
(aviation): waterline, buttock line
related terms
bisect
dissect
insect
intersect
prosect
resect
secant
sect
sectarian
sectary
section grid
section road
sector
segment
trisect
verb
section (third-person singular simple present sections, present participle sectioning, simple past and past participle sectioned) (transitive)
To cut, divide or separate into pieces.
To reduce to the degree of thinness required for study with the microscope.
(UK, Australia, New Zealand) 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.
(medicine) To perform a cesarean section on (someone).
Examples
Tribunals were set up as watchdogs in cases of compulsory detention . […] Informal patients, however, could be sectioned, and this was often a fear of patients once they were in hospital.
The doctor then sectioned her, making her an involuntary patient, and had her moved to a secure ward.
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;- […]
Synonym: schedule
"But if she's gone into active labour she could be bleeding massively and you may have to section her there and then."
You may hear a physician say, "I don't want to section her until the baby declares itself."