Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To separate into distinct parts, categories, or compartments.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
separate something into differentcategories orcompartments .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb separate into isolated compartments or categories
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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The Maldives 'president, Mohamed Nasheed, told the two to "compartmentalize" their problems.
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MANN: We do deal directly with families and I think when we work in cases that where forensic scientists are able to kind of compartmentalize our motions, I think we're able to see through what we're doing so that we can stay focused and we can achieve the task at hand.
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This is at once his greatest strength and his greatest weakness; the price he pays for his intense focus — his ability to "compartmentalize" — is perhaps its flip side: tunnel vision.
Reconstructing Woody Peter Biskind 2005
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This is at once his greatest strength and his greatest weakness; the price he pays for his intense focus — his ability to "compartmentalize" — is perhaps its flip side: tunnel vision.
Reconstructing Woody Peter Biskind 2005
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Let's just say I don't think they are able to "compartmentalize" very well.
Hullabaloo 2005
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I am also diverse enough that I can "compartmentalize".
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Knapp allegedly told the agents he could "compartmentalize," and justify the sale to Iran, because he believe the United States could shoot down any F-5.
Phillies Zone 2010
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Among multi-network users, a quarter of them do it to "compartmentalize" their lives, with the majority aiming to separate personal and professional activities.
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But it's not the first time that trying to "compartmentalize" risk -- to keep it contained -- hasn't worked the way it was supposed to.
Marketplace 2009
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I have come to expect this from liberals after their 8 year crusade, the theme of which was that lying scoundrels can "compartmentalize" between their public and private life and that their academic achievements and good looks justify their chicanery.
Latest Articles 2009
corylusavellana commented on the word compartmentalize
"May I compartmentalize? - I hate to, but may I? May I? Is our language a function of our British cynicism, tolerance, resistance to false emotion, humour and so on, or do those qualities come extrinsically - extrinsically - from the language itself?"
- A Bit of Fry and Laurie, S01 E02.
March 22, 2009