Standard Lemma guide

dichotomous

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /daɪˈkɒt.ə.məs/
  • General-American, dialectal: /daɪˈkɑ.tə.məs/ of Canada
  • General-American, dialectal: [daɪˈkɑ.ɾə.məs] of Canada
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, dialectal: /daɪˈkɒt.ə.məs/ of the US
  • Canada, dialectal: [daɪˈkɒɾ.ə.məs] of the US
  • Australian: /dɑeˈkɔt.ə.məs/
  • Australian: [dɑe̯ˈkɔɾ.ə.məs]
  • New-Zealand: /daɪˈkɒt.ə.məs/
  • New-Zealand: [dɑe̯ˈkɔ̟ɾ.ə.məs]

1

adj

Meaning 1

Dividing or branching into two mutually exclusive pieces.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

divided or dividing into two sharply distinguished parts or classifications

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Late Latin dichotomos, from Ancient Greek διχότομος (dikhótomos, “cut in half”). By surface analysis, dichotomy + -ous.

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: dicotòmic — dividing or branching into two pieces
  • Danish: dikotomisk — dividing or branching into two pieces
  • Finnish: kaksijakoinen — dividing or branching into two pieces
  • Finnish: dikotominen — dividing or branching into two pieces
  • German: dichotom — dividing or branching into two pieces
  • Latin: dichotomos — dividing or branching into two pieces
  • Norwegian Bokmål: dikotom — dividing or branching into two pieces
  • Polish: dwudzielny — dividing or branching into two pieces
  • Polish: dychotomiczny — dividing or branching into two pieces
  • Spanish: dicótomo — dividing or branching into two pieces