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Glite Dictionary
to carve up

to carve up

14 5.8
To divide something into parts to share between people
  • phrasal verb
  • /kɑrv ʌp/
translation icon : repartir
  • And, of course, his power was carved up by the rest of us.

What's more, the situation in Eastern Europe seems a more pressing concern where Poland is about to be carved up once more.

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Examples

  • The Ottoman's side had lost, and the victors began hastily carving up what remained of the empire into new nation states that suited their interests.

  • Now President Wilson and the rest will be carving up Europe.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Back then most of this continent had been carved up by European powers.

  • What's more, the situation in Eastern Europe seems a more pressing concern where Poland is about to be carved up once more.

    Epic History

  • Just as the federal government carved up the reservations in the 1870s

    Academic text (1997)

  • While the other Arctic powers are racing to carve up the region, the United States has remained largely on the sidelines.

    Academic text (2008)

  • This was the Ottoman Empire, one of the largest empires the world has ever known, and presently it's being carved up.

    The Water Diviner (2014)

  • Obama and Romney may sing Kumbaya, decide to share power, and carve up Social Security as a team.

    Blog text (22)

  • Desperate to receive international recognition for his colony, Leopold became one of the founders of the 1884 Berlin Conference, which carved up the African continent among the European colonial powers and resulted in the international recognition of the boundaries of the Congo.

    Academic text (2004)

  • The committee decided to carve up the budget into smaller allocations for each department.

Synonyms

to divide
vsto carve up
680 1.1

To split something into parts or groups

adds the sense that division often serves to apportion parts to parties
to split
vsto carve up
513 1.3

To break something into two or more parts

carries the extra sense of dividing to give or share among groups
to split up
vsto carve up
47 2.6

To divide something into smaller parts

implies division often with the aim of distributing among people or groups
to divvy
vsto carve up
  • Informal
15 7.3

To share something among a group of people

adds the idea of dividing specifically to give parts to people
to divvy up
vsto carve up
  • Informal
10 4.2

Share things or money between several people

means dividing with the purpose of apportioning among people or groups
to apportion
vsto carve up
8 7.0

To divide something and give parts to different people or groups

is about dividing with the idea of sharing among several groups
to parcel out
vsto carve up
3 4.8

To divide something into parts and give each part to different people

stresses division that includes distributing parts to people or groups
to portion out
vsto carve up
1 3.4

To divide something into parts and give each part to different people

focuses on dividing when the purpose is to distribute among groups

Antonyms

to unite
∞ 2.1

To join people or things into one group for a shared purpose

to combine
638 2.7

To mix two or more things into one

How Divided

to slice up
9 1.5
to split
513 1.3
to carve up
14 5.8
to divide
680 1.1
to apportion
8 7.0
share
667 1.6

Surface Forms

carve up infinitive
carved up past
carved up past participle
carving up present participle
carves up third person singular

Morphology

carve + up

The meaning 'to divide into parts' follows directly from combining 'carve' (to cut or divide) with the particle 'up', which commonly signals thorough division or completion. This compositional pattern is common in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Carve up comes from the simple image of cutting a roast or cake into pieces, when you carve and give pieces up to people. That's why it now means 'to divide something into parts' or 'to share it out'.