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Meaning & use

a segment

noun·Academic

Last updated

UK/ə ˈseɡmənt/
US/ə ˈseɡmənt/

Meanings

  1. nouncountable

    one of the parts that something is divided into.

    Grammar: Countable and often followed by 'of': a segment of the market.

    Patterns

    • a segment of something
    • divide something into segments
    • a small segment

    This segment of the report deals with costs.

    The orange peels easily into separate segments.

    Only a small segment of the audience stayed until the end.

  2. nouncountablemathematics

    a part of a line or circle between two points, or a section of a shape.

    Grammar: In geometry, a line segment has two endpoints; a circle segment is cut off by a chord.

    Patterns

    • a line segment
    • a segment of a circle

    Draw a line segment from A to B.

    The area of the shaded segment is about twelve square centimeters.

  3. nouncountable

    a short part of a broadcast program or a piece of video shown on its own.

    Grammar: Common in media talk: 'a news segment', 'a two-minute segment'.

    Patterns

    • a news segment
    • a segment on something

    The show ended with a segment on healthy eating.

    She watched a short segment of the interview online.

Word forms

pluralsegments

Common combinations

a market segment
Teenagers are an important market segment for this brand.
divide into segments
The course is divided into six segments.
a line segment
Measure the line segment with a ruler.
a news segment
The news segment lasted three minutes.
a small segment
Only a small segment of the population was affected.

Synonyms and how they differ

section
'Section' is the general everyday word for a part; 'segment' suggests a part cut off cleanly from the rest.
portion
'Portion' often refers to a share of food or money, not to parts of shapes or markets.

Opposites

whole

Word family

segment verb
to divide something into parts.
segmentation noun
the act or result of dividing into segments.
segmented adjective
made of separate parts.

Commonly confused: a segment or fragment?

a segment vs fragment

A fragment is a broken piece, often with rough edges; a segment is a clean part of a whole.

Practice

The company targets a small ______ of the market for luxury pet food.

Make it your own

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