bifurcate
verb
bi·fur·cate
| \ ˈbī-(ˌ)fər-ˌkāt
, bī-ˈfər-\
, bī-ˈfər-\
bifurcated;
bifurcating
Definition of bifurcate
: to cause to divide into two branches or parts
bifurcate a beam of light
: to divide into two branches or parts
The stream bifurcates into two narrow channels.
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Other Words from bifurcate
bifurcate
\ (ˌ)bī-ˈfər-kət
, -ˌkāt ; ˈbī-(ˌ)fər-ˌkāt \
adjective
, -ˌkāt ; ˈbī-(ˌ)fər-ˌkāt \
adjective
Examples of bifurcate in a Sentence
The stream bifurcated into two narrow winding channels.
bifurcate a beam of light
Recent Examples on the Web
The city was also racially bifurcated between black and white, which left no place for someone of Latino descent. — Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, "How Matthew Lopez Transformed “Howards End” Into an Epic Play About Gay Life," 2 Sep. 2019 Snyder in June granted a joint request to bifurcate the trial. — Ashley Cullins, Billboard, "'Dark Horse' Jury Will Consider Myspace Views During Katy Perry Copyright Trial," 13 July 2019 Cannabis-legalization proposals thus bifurcate into intrastate-only policies and interstate ones. — Ilya Shapiro, National Review, "Congress Needs to Settle the Looming Cannabis-Regulation Fight," 10 July 2019 Google’s Pixel line now is bifurcated into two price tiers. — Dieter Bohn, The Verge, "Why Google’s surprise Pixel 4 tease raises the stakes," 12 June 2019 For starters, about this business of bifurcating worlds. — Quanta Magazine, "Why the Many-Worlds Interpretation Has Many Problems," 18 Oct. 2018 The case became split in two phases in October 2015, when a judge granted RMWD’s request to bifurcate the case. — Ramona Sentinel, "Plaintiffs win Phase 1 of lawsuit against water district," 5 June 2019 The reality is consumers don’t bifurcate or segment their world like that. — Leigh Kamping-carder, WSJ, "Casper Co-Founder Predicts the Death of (Bad) Retail," 21 Nov. 2018 The game shouldn’t be bifurcated by pitchers batting. — Christopher L. Gasper, BostonGlobe.com, "The Lions in the Super Bowl, a .400 hitter in a season, and other sports dreams I’d like to see become reality," 14 July 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bifurcate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for bifurcate
bifurcate
verb
English Language Learners Definition of bifurcate
formal
: to divide into two parts
See the full definition for bifurcate in the English Language Learners Dictionary
bifurcate
intransitive verb
bi·fur·cate
| \ ˈbī-(ˌ)fər-ˌkāt
, bī-ˈfər-
\
, bī-ˈfər-
\
bifurcated;
bifurcating
Medical Definition of bifurcate
: to divide into two branches or parts
Other Words from bifurcate
bifurcate
\ (ˈ)bī-ˈfər-kət
, -ˌkāt; ˈbī-(ˌ)fər-ˌkāt
\
or bifurcated \ -ˌkāt-əd
\
adjective
, -ˌkāt; ˈbī-(ˌ)fər-ˌkāt
\
or bifurcated \ -ˌkāt-əd
\
adjective
bifurcation
\ ˌbī-(ˌ)fər-ˈkā-shən
\
noun
\
noun