Definition of dichotomy

• n. - A cutting in two; a division.
• n. - Division or distribution of genera into two species; division into two subordinate parts.
• n. - That phase of the moon in which it appears bisected, or shows only half its disk, as at the quadratures.
• n. - 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.
• n. - The place where a stem or vein is forked.
• n. - 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.