section
Forms
- Plural
- sections
- present (v1)
- section
- past (v2)
- sectioned
- past participle (v3)
- sectioned
- present participle
- sectioning
- 3rd person singular
- sections
Definitions
1.A cutting; a part cut out from the rest of something.
2.A part, piece, subdivision of anything.
- 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.
1.To cut, divide or separate into pieces.
2.To reduce to the degree of thinness required for study with the microscope.
3.To commit (a person) to a hospital for mental health treatment as an involuntary patient. So called after various sections of legal acts regarding mental health.
- The doctor then sectioned her, making her an involuntary patient, and had her moved to a secure ward.
- 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.
4.To perform a cesarean section on (someone).
- You may hear a physician say, "I don't want to section her until the baby declares itself."
- "But if she's gone into active labour she could be bleeding massively and you may have to section her there and then."
Frequency
Overall
Common· #824
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
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.