Dichotomy
noun
A division into two, especially when these are sharply different or opposed.
There is often a dichotomy between what politicians say and what they do.
Often appears as...
- false dichotomy
- true dichotomy
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
noun
A system of classifying things that involves splitting them into exactly two categories.
The film presents a simple dichotomy: good versus evil.
Often appears as...
- simple dichotomy
- complex dichotomy
Usage tips
Formal
noun
In astronomy, the phase of the moon or a planet when it appears half lit.
The dichotomy of Venus can be observed using a telescope.
Often appears as...
- venus' dichotomy
- lunar dichotomy
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
noun
In botany, a mode of branching by constant forking, as in some stems.
The dichotomy of this plant's stem is a key identifying feature.
Often appears as...
- stem dichotomy
- dichotomy in growth
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
noun
A division into two, especially when these are sharply different or opposed.
There is often a dichotomy between what politicians say and what they do.
Often appears as...
- false dichotomy
- true dichotomy
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
noun
A system of classifying things that involves splitting them into exactly two categories.
The film presents a simple dichotomy: good versus evil.
Often appears as...
- simple dichotomy
- complex dichotomy
Usage tips
Formal
noun
In astronomy, the phase of the moon or a planet when it appears half lit.
The dichotomy of Venus can be observed using a telescope.
Often appears as...
- venus' dichotomy
- lunar dichotomy
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
noun
In botany, a mode of branching by constant forking, as in some stems.
The dichotomy of this plant's stem is a key identifying feature.
Often appears as...
- stem dichotomy
- dichotomy in growth
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/2Contrast Emphasis
Use 'dichotomy' to highlight a strong contrast between groups, ideas, or things.
She noted the dichotomy of traditional values and modern technology in her essay.
Pro Tip 2/2Avoid Cliché
Be careful not to use 'dichotomy' in a cliché way by pairing commonly opposed concepts without deep analysis.
Mentioning the dichotomy of 'love and hate' felt cliché without more context.
Pro Tip 1/2Contrast Emphasis
Use 'dichotomy' to highlight a strong contrast between groups, ideas, or things.
She noted the dichotomy of traditional values and modern technology in her essay.
Pro Tip 2/2Avoid Cliché
Be careful not to use 'dichotomy' in a cliché way by pairing commonly opposed concepts without deep analysis.
Mentioning the dichotomy of 'love and hate' felt cliché without more context.
Pro Tip 1/2Contrast Emphasis
Use 'dichotomy' to highlight a strong contrast between groups, ideas, or things.
She noted the dichotomy of traditional values and modern technology in her essay.
Pro Tip 2/2Avoid Cliché
Be careful not to use 'dichotomy' in a cliché way by pairing commonly opposed concepts without deep analysis.
Mentioning the dichotomy of 'love and hate' felt cliché without more context.
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Video examples
Scott McCloud:...
and honesty and rawness. These are four very different ways of looking at the world. I even gave them the classicist, the animist, the formalist and iconoclast. Interestingly, they seem to correspond more or less to Jung's four subdivisions of human thought. And they reflect a dichotomy of art and delight on left and the right;
Video examples
Jessica Jackley:...
So what I hope is that, not only can the money keep flowing forth through Kiva -- that's a very positive and meaningful thing -- but I hope Kiva can blur those lines, like I said, between the traditional rich and poor categories that we're taught to see in the world, this false dichotomy of us and them, have and have not.
Video examples
A queer vision of love...
However, our stories are much more than this rigid dichotomy of strength and resilience. We are expanding the human complexity on these margins, and we are creating freedom on these margins. And we don't have any blueprints. We're creating a world that we have literally never seen before;
Video examples
A new way to diagnose...
could not attract her attention but something a thing did now most of us make a big dichotomy between the world of things and the world of people now for this girl that division line is not so clear and the world of people is not attracting her as much as we
Video examples
Mae Jemison on teaching...
And when these concepts underlie our teaching and what we think about the world, then we have a problem, because we stymie support for everything. By accepting this dichotomy, whether it's tongue-in-cheek, when we attempt to accommodate it in our world,
Video examples
Planet or Plastic? PIPE...
materials being low value at their end of life and so they're not recovered because there's not as much plastic there so it's sort of this dichotomy and tension there because it maybe saves on one end but it actually in terms of a
Video examples
Stories from a home for...
whose training has really been about saving lives, not about gently guiding the patient to the end of life. The dad of a sweet baby for whom we cared at the end of her life certainly captured this dichotomy when he reflected
Video examples
What does it mean to be...
He went on. He said we need to look after our own backyard first. This is, I believe, outdated, even dangerous thinking. Or as my late grandfather would say, complete BS. Parochialism offers this false dichotomy
Video examples
The gender-fluid history...
only because we're not familiar with it, or we haven't taken enough time to try and understand. In most cultures around the world, gender is this man-woman dichotomy.
Video examples
Ami Klin: A new way to...
So I could not attract her attention, but something -- a thing -- did. Now, most of us make a big dichotomy between the world of things and the world of people.
Video examples
Scott McCloud:...
and honesty and rawness. These are four very different ways of looking at the world. I even gave them the classicist, the animist, the formalist and iconoclast. Interestingly, they seem to correspond more or less to Jung's four subdivisions of human thought. And they reflect a dichotomy of art and delight on left and the right;
Video examples
Jessica Jackley:...
So what I hope is that, not only can the money keep flowing forth through Kiva -- that's a very positive and meaningful thing -- but I hope Kiva can blur those lines, like I said, between the traditional rich and poor categories that we're taught to see in the world, this false dichotomy of us and them, have and have not.
Video examples
A queer vision of love...
However, our stories are much more than this rigid dichotomy of strength and resilience. We are expanding the human complexity on these margins, and we are creating freedom on these margins. And we don't have any blueprints. We're creating a world that we have literally never seen before;
Video examples
A new way to diagnose...
could not attract her attention but something a thing did now most of us make a big dichotomy between the world of things and the world of people now for this girl that division line is not so clear and the world of people is not attracting her as much as we
Video examples
Mae Jemison on teaching...
And when these concepts underlie our teaching and what we think about the world, then we have a problem, because we stymie support for everything. By accepting this dichotomy, whether it's tongue-in-cheek, when we attempt to accommodate it in our world,
Video examples
Planet or Plastic? PIPE...
materials being low value at their end of life and so they're not recovered because there's not as much plastic there so it's sort of this dichotomy and tension there because it maybe saves on one end but it actually in terms of a
Video examples
Stories from a home for...
whose training has really been about saving lives, not about gently guiding the patient to the end of life. The dad of a sweet baby for whom we cared at the end of her life certainly captured this dichotomy when he reflected
Video examples
What does it mean to be...
He went on. He said we need to look after our own backyard first. This is, I believe, outdated, even dangerous thinking. Or as my late grandfather would say, complete BS. Parochialism offers this false dichotomy
Video examples
The gender-fluid history...
only because we're not familiar with it, or we haven't taken enough time to try and understand. In most cultures around the world, gender is this man-woman dichotomy.
Video examples
Ami Klin: A new way to...
So I could not attract her attention, but something -- a thing -- did. Now, most of us make a big dichotomy between the world of things and the world of people.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Gene Luen Yang
Chinese Writer
Dichotomies are an inherent part of comics, aren't they? Comics are both pictures and words. They blend time and space. Many feature characters with dual identities like Bruce Wayne/Batman. Cartoonists also tend to live dichotomous lives because many of us have day jobs.
Quote examples
Porter Stansberry
American Publisher
There's been a dichotomy in the world financial markets over the last 30 years between the developed markets and the developing markets. Brazil, for example, always had to pay a lot more in interest to borrow money than governments in developed nations.
Quote examples
John Travolta
American Actor
I'm realizing that for so much of my life I had an older viewpoint; I saw things as an older person. That's common among change-of-life babies. So I have this dichotomy where I'm either, like, super young or feel like I'm coming to the end of my years.
Quote examples
Pablo Picasso
Spanish Painter
Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time.
Quote examples
Kathryn Stockett
American Novelist
What a dichotomy. What conflicting ideas that we love and embrace these women, and entrust them to raise our children and to feed us and to bathe us, but we keep something as silly as a bathroom separate.
Quote examples
Shura
English Musician
On one level, I am a massive joker and can't take anything seriously, but on the other hand, I'm incredibly serious and a deep thinker, so I have that dichotomy within me.
Quote examples
Joan D. Vinge
American Author
Studying anthropology, I developed a kind of holistic view of human existence, in which the dichotomies you listed are all necessary and vital aspects of life.
Quote examples
Julian Barratt
English Comedian
For me, there's no dichotomy between being shy or a performer, because I think it's more a way of slightly presenting a version of things to the world.
Quote examples
Jeffrey Toobin
American Lawyer
My own career reflects a strange dichotomy between the world we've long known and the world that will become.
Quote examples
Eva Mendes
American Actress
I love having a man in my life, and being his woman at the end of the day. I know it's a dichotomy.
Quote examples
Gene Luen Yang
Chinese Writer
Dichotomies are an inherent part of comics, aren't they? Comics are both pictures and words. They blend time and space. Many feature characters with dual identities like Bruce Wayne/Batman. Cartoonists also tend to live dichotomous lives because many of us have day jobs.
Quote examples
Porter Stansberry
American Publisher
There's been a dichotomy in the world financial markets over the last 30 years between the developed markets and the developing markets. Brazil, for example, always had to pay a lot more in interest to borrow money than governments in developed nations.
Quote examples
John Travolta
American Actor
I'm realizing that for so much of my life I had an older viewpoint; I saw things as an older person. That's common among change-of-life babies. So I have this dichotomy where I'm either, like, super young or feel like I'm coming to the end of my years.
Quote examples
Pablo Picasso
Spanish Painter
Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time.
Quote examples
Kathryn Stockett
American Novelist
What a dichotomy. What conflicting ideas that we love and embrace these women, and entrust them to raise our children and to feed us and to bathe us, but we keep something as silly as a bathroom separate.
Quote examples
Shura
English Musician
On one level, I am a massive joker and can't take anything seriously, but on the other hand, I'm incredibly serious and a deep thinker, so I have that dichotomy within me.
Quote examples
Joan D. Vinge
American Author
Studying anthropology, I developed a kind of holistic view of human existence, in which the dichotomies you listed are all necessary and vital aspects of life.
Quote examples
Julian Barratt
English Comedian
For me, there's no dichotomy between being shy or a performer, because I think it's more a way of slightly presenting a version of things to the world.
Quote examples
Jeffrey Toobin
American Lawyer
My own career reflects a strange dichotomy between the world we've long known and the world that will become.
Quote examples
Eva Mendes
American Actress
I love having a man in my life, and being his woman at the end of the day. I know it's a dichotomy.
Example 1 of 10
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