bifurcate

verb bi·fur·cate \ ˈbī-(ˌ)fər-ˌkāt , bī-ˈfər- \

|Updated on: 9 Aug 2018

Examples: bifurcate in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of bifurcate

bifurcated; bifurcating

transitive verb

: to cause to divide into two branches or parts

bifurcate a beam of light

intransitive verb

: to divide into two branches or parts

The stream bifurcates into two narrow channels.

—

bifurcate

play \(ˌ)bī-ˈfər-kət, -ˌkāt; ˈbī-(ˌ)fər-ˌkāt\ adjective

See bifurcate defined for English-language learners

bifurcate was our Word of the Day on 08/14/2017. Hear the podcast!

Examples of bifurcate in a Sentence

The stream bifurcated into two narrow winding channels.
bifurcate a beam of light

Recent Examples of bifurcate from the Web

The game shouldn’t be bifurcated by pitchers batting.

— christopher l. gasper, BostonGlobe.com, "The Lions in the Super Bowl, a .400 hitter in a season, and other sports dreams I’d like to see become reality," 14 July 2018
The danger for Republicans is that the political map this year is sharply bifurcated: the most competitive House and Senate contests are taking place in strikingly different parts of the country.

— jonathan martin, New York Times, "Forget Tax Cuts. Trump Wants to Rally the G.O.P. Base Over Immigration.," 18 June 2018
At the urging of dozens of speakers, Metro's directors eliminated an option that would have elevated the rail line through the eastern half of Little Tokyo, bifurcating the neighborhood.

— laura j. nelson, latimes.com, "Metro narrows the options for a light-rail line from downtown L.A. to Artesia," 25 May 2018
The move by Democrats would bifurcate and weaken privacy protections online.

— the editorial board, WSJ, "A Phony Vote on ‘Net Neutrality’," 15 May 2018
Grant said the back-to-back controversies have helped highlight a generational, and geographic, divide that often bifurcates Boston’s black community.

— janelle nanos, BostonGlobe.com, "Black Market in Roxbury feels growing pains," 30 Apr. 2018
The dried blood snaked across Nick Foligno's grill, bifurcating below his right eye and running down his puffy cheeks, even staining several mustache hairs dark red.

— alex prewitt, SI.com, "Despite Injuries and Penalties, Blue Jackets Prove Resilient in OT Win Against Capitals," 13 Apr. 2018
The election bifurcated time into the before and the after.

— Vogue, "Why I Haven’t Been on a Date Since Trump Was Elected," 14 Feb. 2018
Society is bifurcating into those who are part of the innovation economy (lords) and those who aren’t (serfs).

— scott galloway, Esquire, "Silicon Valley’s Tax-Avoiding, Job-Killing, Soul-Sucking Machine," 8 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bifurcate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Yogi Berra, the baseball great who was noted for his head-scratching quotes, is purported to have said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi’s advice might not offer much help when making tough decisions in life, but perhaps it will help you remember today’s word, bifurcate. A road that bifurcates splits in two like the one in Yogi’s adage. Other things can bifurcate as well, such as an organization that splits into two factions. Bifurcate derives from the Latin bifurcus, meaning "two-pronged," a combination of the prefix bi- ("two") and the noun furca ("fork"). Furca, as you can probably tell, gave us our word fork.