divarication

noun

di·​var·​i·​ca·​tion (ˌ)dī-ˌver-ə-ˈkā-shən 

də-,

-ˌva-rə-

1

: the action, process, or fact of divaricating

2

: a divergence of opinion

Did you know?

There's no reason to prevaricate about the origins of divarication-the word derives from the Medieval Latin divaricatio, which in turn descends from the verb divaricare, meaning "to spread apart." Divaricare itself is derived from the Latin varicare, which means "to straddle" and is also an ancestor of prevaricate ("to deviate from the truth"). The oldest sense of divarication, which first appeared in print in English in 1578, refers to a literal branching apart (as in "divarication of the roads"). The word eventually developed a more metaphorical second sense that is used when opinions "stretch apart" from one another.

Synonyms

• bifurcation
• divergence
• divergency
• separation

Examples of divarication in a Sentence

the divarication of the various dialects of Latin that occurred with the decline of the Roman Empire

Word History

First Known Use

1578, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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