department

English Online Dictionary. What means department‎? What does department mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English departement (“ceasing, end”), from Middle French département. Later senses borrowed from Modern French département. Doublet of département.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈpɑːtm(ə)nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪˈpɑɹtmənt/
• Hyphenation: de‧part‧ment

Noun

department (plural departments)

2. A part, portion, or subdivision.
4. A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like.
6. A specified aspect or quality.
8. A subdivision of an organization.
   2. (often in proper names) One of the principal divisions of executive government

      the Treasury Department; the Department of Agriculture; police department

   4. (in a university) One of the divisions of instructions

      the physics department; the history department; the math department

10. A territorial division; a district; especially, in France, one of the districts into which the country is divided for governmental purposes, similar to a county in the UK and in the USA. France is composed of 101 départements organized in 18 régions, each department is divided into arrondissements, in turn divided into cantons.
12. (historical) A military subdivision of a country

14. (obsolete) Act of departing; departure.

Synonyms

• (distinct course): province, specialty
• (division of executive government): ministry

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• province
• state

References