GRE words

bifurcate \BY-fur-kayt; by-FUR-kayt\

transitive verb: 1. To divide into two branches or parts.

intransitive verb: 1. To branch or separate into two parts.

adjective: 1. Divided into two branches or parts; forked.

There it was, a sliver of a million-dollar view: the red towers of the Golden Gate Bridge that bifurcated the waters, marking bay from ocean.-- Amy Tan, The Bonesetter's Daughter

They were strolling up the paved walk which bifurcated the rolling front lawn of her house.-- Erik Tarloff, The Man Who Wrote the Book

Increasingly, Canadian teachers are a bifurcated group -- either relative newcomers to the profession or experienced veterans.-- Heather-Jane Robertson, "The Devil's in the Demographics.", Phi Delta Kappan, January 1999

Peed Onk is bravura writing -- the narrative bifurcates, offering exterior realism and the interior torment of the Mother.-- Jon Saari, "Books", Antioch Review, Spring 1999

Riven continually confronts us with . . . visual echoes of its name, such as the giant dagger thrust into the landscape at one point, or the plate-tectonic fracturing of islands out of an implied unity, or even the bifurcate wing cases of the aptly named Riven beetles.-- Stuart Moulthrop, "Misadventure: Future Fiction and the New Networks", Style, Summer 1999


Part of Speech: verb

Pronunciation: ['bI-fêr-keyt]

Definition: To fork, to divide into two branches or prongs; to separate into two parts.

Usage: Today's word is golden in the garden: "Because the leaves of the iris don't bifurcate, they look like green spears rocketing from the ground." It also elevates the tone of directions you give to others: "Don't smash the chocolate bar into bits, Penelope, bifurcate it neatly and offer your brother a moiety!" Another delightful scene from the life of a happy Word-of-the-Day family, using two recent Words of the Day in one sentence!

Suggested Usage: The noun is "bifurcation" and the adjective, spelt the same as the verb but with displaced accent, ['bI-fêr-kêt], means "forked or divided into two parts."


Example Sentence
The proposed restructuring would bifurcate the company.

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.”