Dictionary

compartmentalize en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /kəmˌpɑɹtˈmɛntəlˌaɪz/ (US)
• /kəmpɑɹtˈmɛntl̩ˌaɪz/ (US)
• /kɒmpɑː(ɹ)tˈmɛnt(ə)laɪz/ (UK)
• (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin com- Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *pérh₃tis? Proto-Italic *partis Latin pars Proto-Indo-European *-yétider. Latin -iō Latin partiō Latin partior Latin compartīrībor. Italian compartire Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-mentom Latin -mentum Italian -mento Italian compartimentobor. Middle French compartimentder. English compartment English -al English compartmental Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize English compartmentalize From compartmental + -ize.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To separate something into different categories, or compartments.
   • (He [speaker Mike Johnson] recently said that women, unlike men, are unable to “compartmentalize” their thoughts.) 2025 December 9, Michelle Goldberg, “Republican Women Suddenly Realize They’re Surrounded by Misogynists”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • I shook my head at what I saw as this man’s almost pathological ability to compartmentalize the madness he likely played a role in and the quaint, pastoral life he led at the same time. It reminded me of something I was told as a child. 2026 January 15, Shalom Auslander, “They Were Ordinary Germans. We Are Ordinary Americans.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • In summary, we find the below listed empirical observations coming from our analysis of our Google hospital reviews ¶ The 11 identified valenced topics do not line up well with the standard way that the CMS and other surveys use to measure experiences, i.e., patients do not compartmentalize most of their comments to specific staff—doctors, nurses, etc.—or even departments. 2024 July 18, Nah Lee, Richard Staelin, “Patient text reviews and preference estimation”, in Marketing Letters, →DOI:
   • Russia and Iran see the wars against Israel and Ukraine as indelibly linked — and we in the West would be foolish to compartmentalize them. 2024 August 13, Daniel Kochis, “Russia’s links with Iran are growing stronger”, in Politico:
   • Mediators and co-activators BRD4 and MED1 form phase-separated droplets at SEs that compartmentalize and concentrate the transcription apparatus, suggesting a significant role for co-activators in this process and revealing the regulation mechanisms of function and structure of SE involved in the control of hub cell identity genes. 2024 August 1, Hongying Ma, Jian Qu, Zicheng Pang, Jian Luo, Min Yan, Weixin Xu, Haihui Zhuang, Linxin Liu, Qiang Qu, “Super-enhancer omics in stem cell”, in Molecular Cancer, volume 23, →DOI, article 153:

Forms

Deriveds

compartmentalization · subcompartmentalize · overcompartmentalize · recompartmentalize · decompartmentalize · uncompartmentalized · compartmentalizable · compartmentalizer

Translations (17)

de aufgliedern (separate into different categories) · it compartimentalizzare (separate into different categories) · ro compartimenta (separate into different categories) · ca compartimentar (separate into different categories) · yue 劃分 /划分 (separate into different categories) · cmn 劃分 /划分 (separate into different categories) · pt compartimentar (separate into different categories) · de unterteilen (separate into different categories) · fi osastoida (separate into different categories) · fr compartimenter (separate into different categories) · pl podzielić (separate into different categories) · pl szufladkować (separate into different categories) · nl compartimenteren (separate into different categories) · pl dzielić (separate into different categories) · nan 劃分 /划分 (separate into different categories) · fi jaotella (separate into different categories) · es compartimentar (separate into different categories)