Section

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: sec=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

Section, n. [L. sectio, fr. secare, sectum, to cut; akin to E. saw a cutting instrument: cf. F. section. See Saw, and cf. Scion, Dissect, Insect, Secant, Segment.].

•  The act of cutting, or separation by cutting; as, the section of bodies.  [1913 Webster]
•  A part separated from something; a division; a portion; a slice.  [1913 Webster]

  "It is hardly possible to give a distinct view of his several arguments in distinct sections."  [1913 Webster]

  "The extreme section of one class consists of bigoted dotards, the extreme section of the other consists of shallow and reckless empirics."  [1913 Webster]
•  The figure made up of all the points common to a superficies and a solid which meet, or to two superficies which meet, or to two lines which meet. In the first case the section is a superficies, in the second a line, and in the third a point.  [1913 Webster]
•  A division of a genus; a group of species separated by some distinction from others of the same genus; -- often indicated by the sign 1913 Webster]
•  A part of a musical period, composed of one or more phrases. See Phrase.  [1913 Webster]
•  The description or representation of anything as it would appear if cut through by any intersecting plane; depiction of what is beyond a plane passing through, or supposed to pass through, an object, as a building, a machine, a succession of strata; profile.  [1913 Webster]

  " In mechanical drawing, as in these Illustrations of a cannon, a longitudinal section (a) usually represents the object as cut through its center lengthwise and vertically; a cross or transverse section (b), as cut crosswise and vertically; and a horizontal section (c), as cut through its center horizontally. Oblique sections are made at various angles. In architecture, a vertical section is a drawing showing the interior, the thickness of the walls, etc., as if made on a vertical plane passed through a building."  [1913 Webster]

Angular sections (Math.), a branch of analysis which treats of the relations of sines, tangents, etc., of arcs to the sines, tangents, etc., of their multiples or of their parts. [R.] -- Conic sections. (Geom.) See under Conic. -- Section liner (Drawing), an instrument to aid in drawing a series of equidistant parallel lines, -- used in representing sections. -- Thin section, a section or slice, as of mineral, animal, or vegetable substance, thin enough to be transparent, and used for study under the microscope.

Syn. -- Part; portion; division.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Section, n. & v.
--n.
1 a part cut off or separated from something.
2 each of the parts into which a thing is divided (actually or conceptually) or divisible or out of which a structure can be fitted together.
3 a distinct group or subdivision of a larger body of people (the wind section of an orchestra).
4 a subdivision of a book, document, statute, etc.
5 US a an area of land. b one square mile of land. c a particular district of a town (residential section).
6 a subdivision of an army platoon.
7 esp. Surgery a separation by cutting.
8 Biol. a thin slice of tissue etc., cut off for microscopic examination.
9 a the cutting of a solid by or along a plane. b the resulting figure or the area of this.
10 a representation of the internal structure of something as if cut across along a vertical or horizontal plane.
11 Biol. a group, esp. a subgenus.
--v.tr.
1 arrange in or divide into sections.
2 Brit. cause (a person) to be compulsorily committed to a psychiatric hospital in accordance with a section of a mental health act.
3 Biol. cut into thin slices for microscopic examination.

Idiom

section-mark the sign (°) used as a reference mark to indicate the start of a section of a book etc.

Etymology

F section or L sectio f. secare sect- cut

THESAURUS

Section

KP, abscission, adjunct, airspace, allocate, allot, amputation, anacrusis, anastomotic operation, apportion, area, army, army group, article, back matter, bass passage, battalion, battery, battle group, belt, biotype, block, blood, bloodless operation, book, bourdon, bracket, branch, break up, bridge, brigade, burden, butchering, cadence, cadre, capital operation, caste, category, chapter, chopping, chorus, clan, class, clause, cleavage, cleave, clos, close, coda, cohort, column, combat command, combat team, company, compensating operation, component, confines, continental shelf, contingent, corneal transplant, corps, corridor, country, crescent operation, croft, cross section, cut, cut up, cutting, department, detachment, detail, development, dichotomy, district, divide, divide up, division, divvy, divvy up, dole, elective operation, element, emergency operation, enclave, enucleation, environs, estate, excision, exploratory operation, exposition, family, fascicle, fenestration operation, field, field army, field train, figure, file, fission, flying column, folderol, folio, forty, fraction, front matter, garrison, gathering, genotype, genus, grade, ground, group, grouping, harmonic close, head, heading, heart transplant, heartland, hinterland, installment, interlude, intermezzo, interval operation, introductory phrase, item, kidney transplant, kin, kingdom, kitchen police, kraal, label, laceration, land, leg, legion, level, livraison, locality, lot, major operation, maniple, measure, measure out, member, milieu, minor operation, moiety, movement, musical phrase, musical sentence, mutilation, neighborhood, number, offshore rights, operation, order, organ transplant, organ transplantation, organization, ornament, outfit, page, pale, palliative operation, paragraph, parcel, parcel of land, parcel out, part, particular, partition, parts, passage, patch, percentage, period, phalanx, phrase, phylum, piece, pigeonhole, place, plat, platoon, plot, plot of ground, portion, position, posse, precinct, precincts, predicament, premises, purlieus, quad, quadrangle, quadrant, quarter, quota, race, radical operation, random sample, rank, rating, real estate, refrain, regiment, region, remainder, removal, rending, resection, resolution, response, ripping, ritornello, rubric, salient, sample, sampling, scission, sector, segment, sentence, separate, sept, serial, series, set, severance, share, sheet, signature, slashing, slice, slicing, soil, space, species, sphere, split, split up, splitting, squad, squadron, square, stage, stanza, statement, station, status, strain, stratum, subclass, subdivide, subdivision, subfamily, subgenus, subgroup, subkingdom, suborder, subspecies, subtribe, superclass, superfamily, superorder, superspecies, surgery, surgical intervention, surgical operation, surgical technique, tactical unit, tailpiece, task force, tearing, terrain, territory, text, the knife, three-mile limit, title, tract, train, transplant, tribe, troop, tutti, tutti passage, twelve-mile limit, unit, variation, variety, verse, vicinage, vicinity, volume, wing, zone

ROGET THESAURUS

Section

Book

N booklet, writing, work, volume, tome, opuscule, tract, tractate, livret, brochure, libretto, handbook, codex, manual, pamphlet, enchiridion, circular, publication, chap book, part, issue, number livraison, album, portfolio, periodical, serial, magazine, ephemeris, annual, journal, paper, bill, sheet, broadsheet, leaf, leaflet, fly leaf, page, quire, ream, chapter, section, head, article, paragraph, passage, clause, endpapers, frontispiece, cover, binding, folio, quarto, octavo, duodecimo, sextodecimo, octodecimo, encyclopedia, encompilation, library, bibliotheca, press, definitive work, treatise, comprehensive treatise (dissertation), writer, author, litterateur, essayist, journalism, pen, scribbler, the scribbling race, literary hack, Grub-street writer, writer for the press, gentleman of the press, representative of the press, adjective jerker, diaskeaust, ghost, hack writer, ink slinger, publicist, reporter, penny a liner, editor, subeditor, playwright, poet, bookseller, publisher, bibliopole, bibliopolist, librarian, bookstore, bookshop, bookseller's shop, knowledge of books, bibliography, book learning, among the giant fossils of my past, craignez tout d'un auteur en courroux, for authors nobler palms remain, I lived to write and wrote to live, look in thy heart and write, there is no Past so long as Books shall live, the public mind is the creation of the Master-Writ, volumes that I prize above my dukedom.

Disjunction

N disjunction, disconnection, disunity, disunion, disassociation, disengagement, discontinuity, abjunction, cataclasm, inconnection, abstraction, abstractedness, isolation, insularity, insulation, oasis, island, separateness, severalty, disjecta membra, dispersion, apportionment, separation, parting, circumcision, detachment, segregation, divorce, sejunction, seposition, diduction, diremption, discerption, elision, caesura, break, fracture, division, subdivision, rupture, compartition, dismemberment, dislocation, luxation, severance, disseverance, scission, rescission, abscission, laceration, dilaceration, disruption, abruption, avulsion, divulsion, section, resection, cleavage, fission, partibility, separability, fissure, breach, rent, split, rift, crack, slit, incision, dissection anatomy, decomposition, cutting instrument, buzzsaw, circular saw, rip saw, separatist, disjoined, discontinuous, multipartite, abstract, disjunctive, secant, isolated, insular, separate, disparate, discrete, apart, asunder, far between, loose, free, unattached, unannexed, unassociated, unconnected, distinct, adrift, straggling, rift, reft, scissile, divisible, discerptible, partible, separable, separately, one by one, severally, apart, adrift, asunder, in twain, in the abstract, abstractedly.

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.

Combatant

N combatant, disputant, controversialist, polemic, litigant, belligerent, competitor, rival, corrival, fighter, assailant, champion, Paladin, mosstrooper, swashbuckler fire eater, duelist, bully, bludgeon man, rough, prize fighter, pugilist, boxer, bruiser, the fancy, gladiator, athlete, wrestler, fighting-cock, game-cock, warrior, soldier, fighting man, Amazon, man at arms, armigerent, campaigner, veteran, swordsman, sabreur, redcoat, military man, Rajput, armed force, troops, soldiery, military forces, sabaoth, the army, standing army, regulars, the line, troops of the line, militia, yeomanry, volunteers, trainband, fencible, auxiliary, bersagliere, brave, garde-nationale, garde-royale, minuteman, auxiliary forces, reserve forces, reserves, posse comitatus, national guard, gendarme, beefeater, guards, guardsman, yeomen of the guard, life guards, household troops, janissary, myrmidon, Mama, Mameluke, spahee, spahi, Cossack, Croat, Pandoz, irregular, guerilla, partisan, condottiere, franctireur, tirailleur, bashi-bazouk, vietminh, vietcong, shining path, contras, huk, hukbalahap, mercenary, soldier of fortune, hired gun, gunfighter, gunslinger, bushwhacker, free lance, companion, Hessian, hit man torpedo, soldier, levy, draught, Landwehr, Landsturm, conscript, recruit, cadet, raw levies, infantry, infantryman, private, private soldier, foot soldier, Tommy Atkins, rank and file, peon, trooper, sepoy, legionnaire, legionary, cannon fodder, food for powder, officer, subaltern, ensign, standard bearer, spearman, pikeman, spear bearer, halberdier, lancer, musketeer, carabineer, rifleman, jager, sharpshooter, yager, skirmisher, grenadier, fusileer, archer, bowman, horse and foot, horse soldier, cavalry, horse, artillery, horse artillery, light horse, voltigeur, uhlan, mounted rifles, dragoon, hussar, light dragoon, heavy dragoon, heavy, cuirassier, Foot Guards, Horse Guards, gunner, cannoneer, bombardier, artilleryman, matross, sapper, sapper and miner, engineer, light infantry, rifles, chasseur, zouave, military train, coolie, army, corps d'armee, host, division, battalia, column, wing, detachment, garrison, flying column, brigade, regiment, corps, battalion, sotnia, squadron, company, platoon, battery, subdivision, section, squad, piquet, picket, guard, rank, file, legion, phalanx, cohort, cloud of skirmishers, war horse, charger, destrier, marine, man-of-war's man, navy, wooden walls, naval forces, fleet, flotilla, armada, squadron, man-of-war, destroyer, submarine, minesweeper, torpedo-boat, torpedo-destroyer, patrol torpedo boat, PT boat, torpedo- catcher, war castle, H, M, S, battleship, battle wagon, dreadnought, line of battle ship, ship of the line, aircraft carrier, carrier, flattop, helicopter carrier, missile platform, missile boat, ironclad, turret ship, ram, monitor, floating battery, first- rate, frigate, sloop of war, corvette, gunboat, bomb vessel, flagship, guard ship, cruiser, armored cruiser, protected cruiser, privateer, tender, store ship, troop ship, transport, catamaran, merchant marine.