a subdivision of a written work; usually numbered and titled
"he read a chapter every night before falling asleep"
any distinct period in history or in a person's life
"the industrial revolution opened a new chapter in British history"
"the divorce was an ugly chapter in their relationship"
an ecclesiastical assembly of the monks in a monastery or even of the canons of a church
"The new abbot summoned the entire chapter to discuss the proposed changes to their daily prayer schedule."
One of the main sections into which the text of a book is divided.
"She couldn't remember what happened in the third chapter, so she had to re-read it before continuing her summary."
In plain English: A chapter is a section of a book that comes between two other sections.
"I need to read one more chapter before I can go to sleep."
Usage: Use "chapter" to refer to a distinct division within a larger book or document, such as saying the novel has twenty chapters. Do not use it to mean an entire book itself unless you are specifically discussing its internal structure.
To divide into chapters.
"The editor decided to break the novel down and divide it into separate chapters for easier reading."
In plain English: To chapter something means to divide it into sections with headings, though this is rarely used as a verb in everyday conversation.
"He decided to chapter his own book after the publisher rejected his manuscript."
Usage: Use "chapter" as a verb only when describing the specific act of dividing a book or document into sections marked by Roman numerals. In casual conversation, people almost always use it as a noun to refer to a distinct part of a story rather than performing the action of splitting text.
The word "chapter" comes from the Old French chapitre, which was derived from the Latin capitulum, meaning a small head or section of a book. It entered English via Middle English while retaining its original sense of a division in a text that stems from the idea of a "head."