Dichotomy
Pronunciation : Di*chot"o*my
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [Gr. dichotomie. See Dichotomous.]
Definition : 1. A cutting in two; a division. A general breach or dichotomy with their church. Sir T. Browne.
2. Division or distribution of genera into two species; division into two subordinate parts.
3. (Astron.)
Defn: That phase of the moon in which it appears bisected, or shows only half its disk, as at the quadratures.
4. (Biol.)
Defn: Successive division and subdivision, as of a stem of a plant or a vein of the body, into two parts as it proceeds from its origin; successive bifurcation.
5. The place where a stem or vein is forked.
6. (Logic)
Defn: Division into two; especially, the division of a class into two subclasses opposed to each other by contradiction, as the division of the term man into white and not white.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913