section

From Middle English seccioun, from Old French section, from Latin sectiō (“cutting, cutting off, excision, amputation of diseased parts of the body, etc.”), from sectus, past participle of secāre (“to cut”). More at saw.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: sĕk′shən, IPA^(key): /ˈsɛkʃən/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɛkʃən
• Hyphenation: sec‧tion

section (plural sections)

1. A cutting; a part cut out from the rest of something.
2. A part, piece, subdivision of anything.
   • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

     Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.

   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 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.
6. (surgery) An incision or the act of making an incision.
   1. (surgery, colloquial) Short for Caesarean section.
      • 2021, Dr Philippa Kaye, Doctors Get Cancer Too, Vie Books, page 143:

        They had planned to go into my section scar but the surgeon didnʼt think he could see well enough.

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. (New Zealand) A piece of residential land; a plot.
13. (chiefly historical) Synonym of square mile, a unit of land area, especially in the contexts of Canadan surveys and (historical) American land grants.
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.

• (botany, zoology): sectio
• (piece created by cutting): cutting, slice
• (any piece): division, part, slice, piece, snippet

• whole

• (square mile when described as a 'section'): acre (1/640 section), quarter-section (¼ section), labor (¼ section in Texan contexts)

• (aviation): waterline, buttock line

section (third-person singular simple present 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) To commit (a person, to a hospital, with or without their consent), as for mental health reasons. So called after various sections of legal acts regarding mental health.
   • 1998, Diana Gittins, Madness in its Place: Narratives of Severalls Hospital, 1913-1997, Routledge, →ISBN, page 45:

     Tribunals were set up as watchdogs in cases of compulsory detention (sectioning). […] Informal patients, however, could be sectioned, and this was often a fear of patients once they were in hospital.

   • a. 2000, Lucy Johnstone, Users and Abusers of Psychiatry: A Critical Look at Psychiatric Practice, Second Edition, Routledge (2000), →ISBN, page xiv:

     The doctor then sectioned her, making her an involuntary patient, and had her moved to a secure ward.

   • 2006, Mairi Colme, A Divine Dance of Madness, Chipmunkapublishing, →ISBN, page 5:

     After explaining that for 7 years, from ’88 to ’95, I was permanently sectioned under the Mental Health act, robbed of my freedom, my integrity, my rights, I wrote at the time;- […]

   Synonym: (Australia) 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."

• section in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• section in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• section at OneLook Dictionary Search

• ecotins, noetics, notices

From Latin sectiō.

• IPA^(key): /sɛk.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

section f (plural sections)

1. section (all meanings)

• “section”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• notices

From secar +‎ -ion, alternatively from Latin sectiō.

• IPA^(key): /sekˈti̯on/

section (plural sectiones)

1. (act of) cutting
2. (surgery) section (all meanings)
3. section
   1. separation by cutting
   2. portion, division, subdivision
   3. (natural history, military, etc.) section
4. (geometry, drawing, etc.) section