compartmentalization
(kɒmpɑːtˌmɛntəlaɪˈzeɪʃən)
[f. next + -ation.]
The action or state of dividing or being divided into compartments or sections; (see also quot. 1958). Chiefly fig.
| 1923 J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man i. 27 The much more rigid compartmentalization of animal mind and behaviour. 1946 New Yorker 17 Aug. 51 These scientists had worked for the Manhattan District..and the Army, temporarily abandoning its policy of ‘compartmentalization’ of information, had recently brought them together. 1948 L. Spitzer Linguistics & Lit. Hist. 164 The sciences are relieved of the compartmentalization and isolation and become accessible. 1958 J. Cleugh tr. R. Jungk's Brighter than Thous. Suns vii. 121 They erected invisible walls round every single little branch of research... This so-called ‘compartmentalization’ was decreed in spite of the fact that intensive security measures had already been taken. 1962 Listener 18 Jan. 120/2 It would be too big a job to trace the history of this compartmentalization of our minds. 1964 E. A. Nida Toward Sci. Transl. vii. 145 The fact that in some brain injuries the capacity of bilingual persons has been reduced to the speaking of one language and not the other has led to the belief that there may be compartmentalization in the brain. 1967 Jane's Surface Skimmer Systems 1967–68 67/1 This was achieved by a very large fan, and by compartmentalisation of the base. |