Meaning & use
compart
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Meaning
verbtransitivearchaicrare
To divide a space or plan into separate sections, or to share something out in parts.
Grammar: Takes an object: compart a room, compart a garden.
Patterns
- compart something
- compart something into something
The old architect proposed to compart the great hall into small reading rooms.
In the seventeenth-century treatise, the gardener is told to compart the lawn with low hedges.
Medieval planners would compart a field so that each family held an equal share.
Word forms
| third person singular | comparts |
|---|---|
| past tense | comparted |
| past participle | comparted |
| -ing form | comparting |
Common combinations
- compart a room
- They chose to compart the room with a carved wooden screen.
- compart a garden
- The designer would compart the garden into neat squares.
- compart into sections
- The ledger was comparted into sections for each trade.
- compart the land
- The estate was comparted among the three heirs.
Synonyms and how they differ
- partition
- Partition is the usual modern word, and often means dividing with a wall or barrier, while compart is almost never heard today.
- divide
- Divide is the general everyday word and does not suggest the neat, planned layout that compart implies.
- compartmentalize
- Compartmentalize is current and often figurative, as in keeping thoughts or work separate, whereas compart is literal and old.
Opposites
Word family
- compartment noun
- a separate section of a larger space or container
- compartmentalize verb
- to divide into separate categories or sections
- compartmental adjective
- relating to or divided into compartments
- compartition noun
- an old word for a planned division of a space
Commonly confused: compart or compartment?
compart vs compartment
A compartment is the section itself, a noun in everyday use, while compart is a rare old verb meaning to divide into sections.
Practice
Which modern verb is closest in meaning to the old verb 'compart'?
Choose one answer.
Compart means to divide into sections, so partition is closest. Join is nearly the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “compart”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.