English
section
Etymology

From Middle English seccioun, from Old French section, from Latin sectiō, from sectus, past participle of secāre ("to cut").

Pronunciation
  • (RP, America) enPR: sĕk′shən, IPA: /ˈsɛkʃən/
Noun

section (plural sections)

  1. A cutting; a part cut out from the rest of something.
  2. A part, piece, subdivision of anything.
    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#Adjective 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).
    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
      Coordinate term: retraction Synonyms: split monomorphism
    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.
      Hyponym: global section
  6. (surgery) An incision or the act of making an incision.
    1. (surgery, colloquial) Short for Caesarean section.
  7. (sciences) A thin slice of material prepared as a specimen for research.
  8. (botany) A taxonomic rank below the genus (and subgenus if present), but above the species.
  9. (zoology) An informal taxonomic rank below the order ranks and above the family ranks.
  10. (military) A group of 10-15 soldiers led by a non-commissioned officer and forming part of a platoon.
  11. (category theory) A right inverse.
  12. (NZ) A piece of residential land; a plot.
  13. (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.
  14. The symbol §, denoting a section of a document.
  15. (geology) A sequence of rock layers.
  16. (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.
Synonyms Antonyms Related terms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

section (sections, present participle sectioning; simple past and past participle sectioned) (transitive)

  1. To cut, divide or separate into pieces.
  2. To reduce to the degree of thinness required for study with the microscope.
  3. (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.
    Synonyms: schedule
  4. (medical) To perform a cesarean section on (someone).
    • 2012, Anne Fraser, St. Piran's: Daredevil, Doctor...Dad!, Harlequin, page 16:
      "But if she's gone into active labour she could be bleeding massively and you may have to section her there and then."
    • 2008, Murray et al, Labor and Delivery Nursing: Guide to Evidence-Based Practice, Springer Publishing Company, page 57:
      You may hear a physician say, "I don't want to section her until the baby declares itself."
Translations Translations
  • French: interner
  • Russian: упечь в психушку


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.006
Offline English dictionary