Word Study
department
OXFORD DICTIONARY
department, n.
1 a separate part of a complex whole, esp.: a a branch of municipal or State administration (Housing Department; Department of Social Security). b a branch of study and its administration at a university, school, etc. (the physics department). c a specialized section of a large store (hardware department).
2 colloq. an area of special expertise.
3 an administrative district in France and other countries.
1 a separate part of a complex whole, esp.: a a branch of municipal or State administration (Housing Department; Department of Social Security). b a branch of study and its administration at a university, school, etc. (the physics department). c a specialized section of a large store (hardware department).
2 colloq. an area of special expertise.
3 an administrative district in France and other countries.
Idiom
department store a large shop stocking many varieties of goods in different departments.
Etymology
F d{eacute}partement (as DEPART)
THESAURUS
department
airspace, ambit, area, arena, bailiwick, beat, belt, border, borderland, branch, bureau, circle, circuit, commissariat, concern, confines, constablery, constablewick, constabulary, continental shelf, control, corridor, country, demesne, discipline, district, division, domain, dominion, environs, field, ground, heartland, hemisphere, hinterland, judicial circuit, jurisdiction, land, march, milieu, ministry, municipality, neighborhood, office, offshore rights, orb, orbit, pale, part, parts, place, precinct, precincts, premises, province, purlieus, quarter, realm, region, responsibility, round, salient, secretariat, section, segment, sheriffalty, sheriffwick, shrievalty, soil, space, sphere, subdiscipline, subdivision, terrain, territory, three-mile limit, twelve-mile limit, unit, vicinage, vicinity, walk, worry, zoneROGET THESAURUS
department
Business
N business, occupation, employment, pursuit, what one is doing, what one is about, affair, concern, matter, case, matter in hand, irons in the fire, thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore, errand, commission, mission, charge, care, duty, part, role, cue, province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line, walk, walk of life, beat, round, routine, race, career, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty, industry, art, industrial arts, craft, mystery, handicraft, trade, exercise, work, avocation, press of business, businesslike, workaday, professional, official, functional, busy, on hand, in hand, in one's hands, afoot, on foot, on the anvil, going on, acting, in the course of business, all in one's day's work, professionally Adj, a business with an income at its heels, amoto quaeramus seria ludo, par negotiis neque supra.Part
N part, portion, dose, item, particular, aught, any, division, ward, subdivision, section, chapter, clause, count, paragraph, verse, article, passage, sector, segment, fraction, fragment, cantle, frustum, detachment, parcel, piece, lump, bit cut, cutting, chip, chunk, collop, slice, scale, lamina, small part, morsel, particle, installment, dividend, share, debris, odds and ends, oddments, detritus, excerpta, member, limb, lobe, lobule, arm, wing, scion, branch, bough, joint, link, offshoot, ramification, twig, bush, spray, sprig, runner, leaf, leaflet, stump, component part, sarmentum, compartment, department, county, fractional, fragmentary, sectional, aliquot, divided, in compartments, multifid, disconnected, partial, partly, in part, partially, piecemeal, part by part, by by installments, by snatches, by inches, by driblets, bit by bit, inch by inch, foot by foot, drop by drop, in detail, in lots.Class
N class, division, category, categorema, head, order, section, department, subdepartment, province, domain, kind, sort, genus, species, variety, family, order, kingdom, race, tribe, caste, sept, clan, breed, type, subtype, kit, sect, set, subset, assortment, feather, kidney, suit, range, gender, sex, kin, manner, description, denomination, designation, rubric, character, stamp predicament, indication, particularization, selection, specification, similarity.Jurisdiction
N jurisdiction, judicature, administration of justice, soc, executive, commission of the peace, magistracy, judge, tribunal, municipality, corporation, bailiwick, shrievalty, lord lieutenant, sheriff, shire reeve, shrieve, constable, selectman, police, police force, the fuzz, constabulary, bumbledom, gendarmerie, officer, bailiff, tipstaff, bum-bailiff, catchpoll, beadle, policeman, cop, police constable, police sergeant, sbirro, alguazil, gendarme, kavass, lictor, mace bearer, huissier, bedel, tithingman, press gang, exciseman, gauger, gager, customhouse officer, douanier, coroner, edile, aedile, portreeve, paritor, posse comitatus, bureau, cutcherry, department, secretariat, long arm of the law, extradition, executive, administrative, municipal, inquisitorial, causidical, judicatory, judiciary, judicial, juridical, coram judice.Region
N region, sphere, ground, soil, area, field, realm, hemisphere, quarter, district, beat, orb, circuit, circle, reservation, pale, compartment, department, clearing, (property) &c 780 (Government), 1 arena, precincts, enceinte, walk, march, patch, plot, parcel, inclosure, close, field, court, enclave, reserve, preserve, street, clime, climate, zone, meridian, latitude, biosphere, lithosphere, territorial, local, parochial, provincial, regional.For further exploring for "department" in Webster Dictionary Online