a serious disagreement between two groups of people (typically producing tension or hostility)
"The heated debate on the issue divided the community into opposing camps, creating deep tension in the neighborhood."
a ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems
"The mountain range acts as a natural divide, sending rainwater to either the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean."
A thing that divides.
"The river serves as a natural divide between the two neighboring counties."
To split or separate (something) into two or more parts.
"The teacher asked the students to divide the large group of toys into smaller piles."
In plain English: To divide something means to split it into separate parts or groups.
"She decided to divide the cake into four equal slices for everyone at the party."
Usage: Use divide to describe physically splitting an object, such as cutting a cake in half, rather than separating people who are already apart. It is the standard verb for mathematical partitioning and breaking things down into smaller components.
The word divide comes from the Latin verb dividere, meaning "to separate." It entered Middle English as a replacement for an older Germanic term with the same sense, eventually traveling into modern usage to describe splitting something apart.