different between incision vs dichotomy

English

Etymology

From Middle English incision, from Old French incision, from Late Latin incisi? from the verb incid? (“I cut into”) + action noun suffix -i?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?s???n/
• Rhymes: -???n

Noun

incision (countable and uncountable, plural incisions)

1. A cut, especially one made by a scalpel or similar medical tool in the context of surgical operation; the scar resulting from such a cut.
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act I, Scene 1,^[1]

     Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me;

     Let’s purge this choler without letting blood:

     This we prescribe, though no physician;

     Deep malice makes too deep incision;

   • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, Chapter 33,^[2]

     Gunch was so humorous that Mrs. Babbitt said he must “stop making her laugh because honestly it was hurting her incision.”

   • 1999, Ahdaf Soueif, The Map of Love, London: Bloomsbury, 2000, Chapter 28, p. 470,^[3]

     In the midst of the men a black upright stove sends out its heat. On the glowing holes at the top Ya‘qub Artin has carefully placed some chestnuts, each with a neat incision in its side.

2. The act of cutting into a substance.
   • 1539, Thomas Elyot (compiler), The Castel of Helthe, London, Book 3, Chapter 6,^[4]

     The parte of Euacuation by lettyng of blud, is incision or cuttyng of the vayne, wherby the bloud, whiche is cause of syckenes or grefe to the hole body, or any particular part therof, doth most aptly passe.

   • 1649, John Milton, Eikonoklastes, London, pp. 94-95,^[5]

     Never considering […] that these miseries of the people are still his own handy work, having smitt’n them like a forked Arrow so sore into the Kingdoms side, as not to be drawn out and cur’d without the incision of more flesh.

   • 1800, William Hayley, An Essay on Sculpture, London: T. Cadell Junior and W. Davies, Epistle 4, p. 89,^[6]

     Mnesarchus, early as a sculptor known,

     From nice incision of the costly stone,

   • 1964, William Trevor, The Old Boys, Penguin, 2014, Chapter 21,^[7]

     Slowly, as meticulously as if engaged upon a surgical incision, Mr Nox opened his mail.

3. (obsolete) Separation or solution of viscid matter by medicines.
4. (figuratively) This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• inosinic

French

Etymology

First known attestation 1314 in the French translation of Chirurgie by Henri de Mondeville. Learned borrowing from Latin incisi?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.si.zj??/

Noun

incision f (plural incisions)

1. (medicine, general use) incision

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ????????? (dikhotomía, “dichotomy”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /da??k?t.?.mi/
• Rhymes: -?t?mi

Noun

dichotomy (countable and uncountable, plural dichotomies)

1. A separation or division into two; a distinction that results in such a division.
   • 1989, Carole Pateman, 6: Feminist Critiques of the Public/Private Dichotomy, The Disorder of Women: Democracy, Feminism, and Political Theory, page 118,

     The dichotomy between the private and the public is central to almost two centuries of feminist writing and political struggle; it is, ultimately, what the feminist movement is all about. Although some feminists treat the dichotomy as a universal, trans-historical and trans-cultural feature of human existence, feminist criticism is primarily directed at the separation and opposition between the public and private spheres in liberal theory and practice.

   • 2003, Thérèse Encrenaz et al., Storm Dunlop (translator), The Solar System [Système Solaire], page 232,

     The dichotomy between maria and highlands dominates lunar mineralogy.

   • 2008, N. Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Economics, 6th Edition, page 723,

     All of this previous analysis was based on two related ideas: the classical dichotomy and monetary neutrality. Recall that the classical dichotomy is the separation of variables into real variables (those that measure quantities or relative prices) and nominal variables (those measured in terms of money).

2. Such a division involving apparently incompatible or opposite principles; a duality.
3. (logic) The division of a class into two disjoint subclasses that are together comprehensive, as the division of man into white and not white.
   • 2011, Tomasz A. Gorarzd, Jacek Krzaczkowski, The Complexity of Problems Connected with Two-Element Algebras, Pawe? M. Idziak, Andrzej Wronski, Reports on Mathematical Logic: No. 46, page 92,

     One can ask if for any algebra the considered problem is always in P or NP-complete (P or coNP-complete)? For example, the problem of the satisfiability of a system of polynomial equations over a group G is in P if G is abelian and NP-complete otherwise ([7, 13]).

     One of the most widely known subclasses of NP which exhibits such a dichotomy, is the class of constraint satisfaction problems (CSP) on the set {0,1}, see [16]. Recently Bulatov proved the dichotomy for CSP on a three-element set [3].

4. (biology, taxonomy) The division of a genus into two species; a division into two subordinate parts.
5. (astronomy) A phase of the moon when it appears half lit and half dark, as at the quadratures.
6. (biology) Division and subdivision; bifurcation, as of a stem of a plant or a vein of the body into two parts as it proceeds from its origin; often successive.
   • 1969, J. F. Rigby, Permian Sphenopsids from Antarctica, Geological Survey Professional Paper 613-F, page F-9,

     In one forked leaf there is a distinct vein dichotomy, and the leaf boundary commences 1.5 mm above the dichotomy.

   • 2010, V. Singh, P. C. Pande, D. K. Jain, Text Book Of Botany: Diversity Of Microbes And Cryptogams, 4th Edition, page 511,

     In most of the creeping species with dorsiventral stems (e.g., S. kraussiana, S. laevigata) roots arise at or close to the point of dichotomy; in species like S. rupestris and S. wallichii they arise at the point of dichotomy as well as other positions and in S. selaginoides and S. spinulosa they arise from knot like swellings present at the basal portion of the stem.

Synonyms

• (separation or division into two): See Thesaurus:bisection
• (division into parts): partition, trichotomy

Derived terms

Related terms

• trichotomy
• polytomy

Translations

See also

• bifurcation
• bisection
• duality
• law of the excluded middle
• partition

Anagrams

• cymothoid