Definitions for department
dɪˈpɑrt məntde·part·ment

Princeton's WordNet(2.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. department, sectionnoun

   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"

2. departmentnoun

   the territorial and administrative division of some countries (such as France)

3. departmentnoun

   a specialized sphere of knowledge

   "baking is not my department"; "his work established a new department of literature"

Wiktionary(2.40 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. departmentnoun

   A part, portion, or subdivision.

2. departmentnoun

   A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province.

3. departmentnoun

   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 instructions; as, the medical department; the department of physics.

4. departmentnoun

   A territorial division; a district; especially, in France, one of the districts composed of several arrondissements into which the country is divided for governmental purposes.

5. departmentnoun

   A military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac.

6. departmentnoun

   Act of departing; departure.

7. Etymology: From département.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Departmentnoun

   Separate allotment; province or business assigned to a particular person.

   Etymology: department, French.

   The Roman fleets, during their command at sea, had their several stations and departments: the most considerable was the Alexandrian fleet, and the second was the African. Arbuthnot.

Webster Dictionary(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Departmentverb

   act of departing; departure

2. Departmentverb

   a part, portion, or subdivision

3. Departmentverb

   a distinct course of life, action, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province

4. Departmentverb

   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

5. Departmentverb

   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

6. Departmentverb

   a military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac

7. Etymology: [F. dpartement, fr. dpartir. See Depart, v. i.]

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Department

   Department is the name given to the administrative and political subdivisions of many countries. As a territorial unit, "department" was first used by the French Revolutionary governments, apparently to emphasize that each territory was simply an administrative sub-division of the united sovereign nation. This attempt to de-emphasize local political identity contrasts strongly with countries which are divided into "states". Today, departments may exist either with or without a representative assembly and executive head depending upon the countries' constitutional and administrative structure. The United States used this designation for the "Department of Alaska" during the early period of US rule in Alaska.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Department

   de-pärt′ment, n. a part: a separate part of business or duty: a section of the administration: a division of a country, esp. of France.—adj. Department′al.—adv. Department′ally.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Department

   a territorial division in France instituted in 1790, under which the old division into provinces was broken up; each department, of which there are now 87, is broken up into arrondissements.

Dictionary of Nautical Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. department

   A term by which the divisions in the public services are distinguished, as the civil, the commissariat, the military, the naval, the victualling, &c.

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. department

   A facet of a business, company, enterprise, organization or form of unity assembly, unity council, unity legislature, unity senate, house of representatives, unity government, local unity government, regional unity government, national unity government, european unity government and international unity government with a specific purpose.

   The department had all the resources and income that they needed.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on February 18, 2020  

Matched Categories

1. • Administrative District
   • Sector

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'department' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #531

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'department' in Written Corpus Frequency: #875

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'department' in Nouns Frequency: #153

How to pronounce department?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say department in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of department in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of department in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of department in a Sentence

1. Dave Butler:

   United States calls with the Chinese and others in October and January were in keeping with these duties and responsibilities conveying reassurance in order to maintain strategic stability, all calls from the Chairman to United States counterparts, including those reported, are staffed, coordinated and communicated with the Department of Defense and the interagency.

2. Rudy Giuliani:

   I spoke to State Department during the course of this situation, I told you, at least 10 times, and I met with Hunter Biden.

3. Naperville Police Chief Robert Marshall:

   This was never a cold case for our police department, we were all conscious of Julie's murder looking for the killer and we had Julie's picture on our desks and investigations for all these years.

4. Chris Magnus:

   His use of deadly force in this incident is a clear violation of department policy and directly contradicts multiple aspects of our use of force and training.

5. Donny Schmit:

   It’s just been the perfect storm of bad timing and we miss our fellow officer and the loss of leadership at the police department.

Popularity rank by frequency of use