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⚖️ Dividing in two 🧑‍⚖️ A divider
dichotomist

dichotomist

9.5
A person who divides things into two opposite groups with no middle ground
  • noun
  • /daɪˈkɒtəˌmɪst/
translation icon : dicotomista
  • The philosopher was a well-known dichotomist, frequently arguing that all human motivations could be categorized as either selfish or altruistic.

Examples

  • It uses both the Freedom House's dichotomist categorization (democratic versus authoritarian) and continuous scores (1 to 7).

    Academic text (2014)

  • Dichotomists, on the other hand, see their own selves as part of a complementary pair.

    Blog text (32)

  • If we don't look to our commonalities instead of relying on simplistic, dichotomist-style thinking, our treasured U.S. Constitution may be gone before we know it.

    Academic text (2006)

  • As a true dichotomist, she always viewed the world in terms of good and evil, never considering any shades of gray.

  • His dichotomist approach to politics simplified complex issues into just two opposing sides, which often led to misunderstandings.

Antonyms

unifier
4 4.8

A person or thing that brings different people together

Surface Forms

dichotomist singular
dichotomists plural

Morphology

dichotomist = dichotomy (transparent) = dichotomy + ist

The agentive/characterizing suffix '-ist' attaches to the notion of 'dichotomy' to form 'a person who divides or treats things in two parts', which is a straightforward derivation.

Etymology

A dichotomist comes from Greek parts di- 'two' and -tom 'cut', the same root you see in atom. So a dichotomist is a person who divides ideas or people into two clear groups and often sees no middle ground.