Divisiveness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of causing people to become separated into opposing or hostile groups
2. the state of creating conflict and separation among people through disagreement or opposition
3. a tendency to generate discord and split individuals into competing factions with different interests

Etymology: "Divisiveness" is a plain English formation: the adjective "divisive" with the suffix "-ness" added to turn a quality into a noun. "Divisive" itself comes from Latin "dīvīsīvus," the adjective of "dīvīdere," meaning "to divide" or "to separate." The Latin root gives English a direct line to the sense of splitting things apart, which is the core of "divisive" as it is used today. The suffix does the grammatical work. "-Ness" descends from Old English "-nes," a noun-forming ending that was attached to adjectives from the earliest English records onward to name the state or quality they describe, as in "kindness" or "darkness." Adding it to "divisive" yields a noun for the tendency that the adjective describes.

Synonyms: discord, division, dissension, disagreement, conflict

Antonyms: unity, harmony, agreement, concord, cohesion