cross section
1
4.1
- noun
- /ˈkrɔs ˈsɛkʃən/
- Specialized
:
muestra representativa
- U.S. Immigration officials say the refugees represent a wide cross section of Cuban society.
That's where the biggest cross section of the purchasing marketplace is in this country and throughout the world.
- That's where the biggest cross section of the purchasing marketplace is in this country and throughout the world.
- It's kind of this like cross section of a lot of the hardcore Trump base that we know it to be now.
- These she is she is cutting through, as it were, a cross section and giving us a feel for what is moving in time as life itself.
- When in reality, there's a really big cross section of awesome human beings on both sides, but they're living life outside of social media.
Examples
-
The cross section of classes included curriculum classes from each of the seven divisions of the college, classes at the college's Jamestown, High Point, and Aviation campuses, and both day and evening classes.
Academic text (2003) -
And I think that the topics that particularly resonate with people are the ones that the broadest cross section of people can relate to.
-
Iowa is a great cross section of America.
-
Athletic teams have been shown to be typically composed of cross sections of the general population.
Academic text (1995) -
School children, however, represent a cross section of the population that regularly visits wildland areas.
Academic text (1994) -
The survey gathered responses from a cross section of the community to better understand local needs.
-
In her research, she aimed to include a cross section of participants from various age groups and backgrounds.
-
The documentary features a cross section of voices from different cultures to highlight the diversity of opinions.
Synonyms
∞
2.3
A small part taken from something to test or study
4
4.4
A small group chosen to show the larger group's main features
Surface Forms
Morphology
The basic composition 'cross' + 'section' transparently evokes the literal notion of an area produced by slicing (a cross-sectional area), which a B1 learner could grasp. However, the physics sense (a probabilistic 'effective area' measuring interaction likelihood) is a metaphorical extension that requires disciplinary knowledge and is not directly derivable from the constituents, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Cross section comes from the image of a cross, meaning 'across', and a section, meaning 'a slice'. You can imagine cutting a slice from a cake or from a crowd to show the variety, so the phrase now means a small group chosen to represent the whole.