section

noun

• 1any of the more or less distinct parts into which something is or may be divided or from which it is made up: I unscrewed every section of copper pipe, from the roof tank to the hot-water cylinder
• a relatively distinct part of a book, newspaper, statute, or other document: the New York Times business section this last section of the questionnaire relates solely to training
• North American a measure of land, equal to one square mile.
• chiefly North American a particular district of a town: a residential section of the capital
• NZ a building plot.

• 2a distinct group within a larger body of people or things:the non-parliamentary section of the party
• a group of players of a family of instruments within an orchestra:the brass section
• [in names] a specified military unit:a GHQ Signals Section
• a subdivision of an army platoon.
• Biology a secondary taxonomic category, especially a subgenus.

• 3 [mass noun] the cutting of a solid by or along a plane.
• the shape resulting from cutting a solid along a plane: nails of round section
• [count noun] a representation of the internal structure of something as if it has been cut through vertically or horizontally: a section of face, showing the position of the organs of speech
• [count noun] Surgery a separation by cutting.
• [count noun] Biology a thin slice of plant or animal tissue prepared for microscopic examination.

verb

• 1divide into sections:she began to section the grapefruit
• (section something off) separate an area from a larger one:parts of the curved balcony had been sectioned off with wrought-iron grilles
• Biology cut (animal or plant tissue) into thin slices for microscopic examination: the specimens were embedded and serially sectioned
• Surgery divide by cutting:it is common veterinary practice to section the nerves to the hoof of a limping horse

• 2British commit (someone) compulsorily to a psychiatric hospital in accordance with a section of a mental health act:should she be sectioned and forced back into hospital?