department

Noun
Synonyms: section

WordNet 3.0

Noun (3)

  1. a specialized division of a large organization“you'll find it in the hardware department”“she got a job in the historical section of the Treasury”Synonyms: section
  2. the territorial and administrative division of some countries (such as France)
  3. a specialized sphere of knowledge“baking is not my department”“his work established a new department of literature”
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Department \De*part"ment\, n. [F. d['e]partement, fr. d['e]partir. See Depart, v. i.]

1.Act of departing; departure. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Sudden departments from one extreme to another.— Wotton.[1913 Webster]

2.A part, portion, or subdivision. [1913 Webster]

3.A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province. [1913 Webster]

Superior to Pope in Pope's own peculiar department of literature.— Macaulay.[1913 Webster]

4.Subdivision of business or official duty; especially, one of the principal divisions of executive government; as, the treasury department; the war department; also, in a university, one of the divisions of instruction; as, the medical department; the department of physics. [1913 Webster]

5.A territorial division; a district; esp., in France, one of the districts composed of several arrondissements into which the country is divided for governmental purposes; as, the Department of the Loire. [1913 Webster]

6.A military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac. [1913 Webster]

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