Meaning & use
divided society
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Meaning
phrasecountable
a community or country where people are strongly separated by differences such as politics, race, or money
Grammar: Countable; you can say 'a divided society' or 'divided societies'. It often appears with adverbs like 'deeply' or 'increasingly'.
Patterns
- a deeply divided society
- heal a divided society
- live in a divided society
The election revealed a deeply divided society.
The leader promised to heal a divided society.
Growing inequality has created a divided society.
Word forms
| plural | divided societies |
|---|
Common combinations
- a deeply divided society
- The country remains a deeply divided society.
- heal a divided society
- The new president promised to heal a divided society.
- an increasingly divided society
- Many people worry about an increasingly divided society.
- create a divided society
- Such policies could create a divided society.
Synonyms and how they differ
- polarized society
- This emphasizes two extreme opposing sides, while 'divided society' can involve many different splits.
- fragmented society
- This suggests breaking into many small pieces and losing unity, which is stronger than simply being divided.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: divided society or dividing society?
divided society vs dividing society
'Dividing society' describes something that causes division (a dividing issue), while 'divided society' describes the result: a society that is already split.
Practice
The protests showed how _____ the country had become.
Choose one answer.
The phrase 'how a divided society' fits because 'society' is countable and needs 'a' here. 'Divided society' without 'a' would be ungrammatical in this structure.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “divided society”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.