Meaning & use

department

noun·Everyday

A specialized division of a larger organization, government, university, or store, each responsible for a particular area.

See it in a sentence

She transferred from the marketing department to human resources last year.

The history department offers several courses on ancient civilizations.

A note on using this word

Department is used for organizational divisions in business, government, and academia, and 'department store' extends the meaning to retail sections.

Words with a similar meaning

divisionsection

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Make it your own

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