Diviser

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. To separate or split something into parts ; to cause disagreement or discord within a group ; to perform the act of division in mathematics or logic
2. To break something into smaller sections ; to create division or conflict between people ; to execute a dividing operation mathematically
3. To partition an entity into components ; to bring about a rift or lack of unity among individuals ; to engage in mathematical division

Etymology: Here the noun comes from a verb that has been in English for centuries. "Divise" entered English from Old French in the 1300s, meaning to separate or to distribute by dividing, and the agent form "-er" was added in English to name a person or thing doing the dividing. The French root goes back to Latin "dividere," meaning to separate into parts, built from "dis-" (apart) and "videre" (to see, or to make distinct). The idea of marking a boundary to split something apart is thus embedded in the verb itself. The noun "diviser" is a rarer English formation than the verb, and it is found mostly in older or technical writing. The most familiar related word is "divider," the common English agent noun from the same verb, which is the usual choice today.

Synonyms: divider, separator, partitioner, splitter, distributor

Antonyms: uniter, combiner, joiner, assembler, connector