Word family noun divide division subdivision adjective divided ≠ undivided divisible ≠ indivisible divisive verb divide subdivide
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdivisivedi‧vi‧sive /dəˈvaɪsɪv/ adjective PPGcausing a lot of disagreement between people The strike was a divisive issue in the community.socially/economically/politically etc divisive socially divisive policiesExamples from the Corpus
divisive• The formalization of learning was not only unnecessary and inhibiting, but politically divisive.• With a membership deeply divided in its views, will a politicised curriculum be divisive?• For one to sue another would have been a divisive act not easily tolerated.• Anti-debt groups in the South are aware of the divisive effect of selective and exclusionary debt relief proposals.• Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in America.• The introduction of grant-maintained schools and city technology colleges is without question divisive, leaving local authority schools as poor relations.• Among evangelical Christians, Graham is known for avoiding divisive rhetoric.• But more important, and certainly more divisive, than such occasions was the endlessly controversial and emotionally potent question of precedence.socially/economically/politically etc divisive• The charge is that exclusive concentration upon the personal can, in its effects, be socially divisive.• The formalization of learning was not only unnecessary and inhibiting, but politically divisive.• This dependence upon parental support, though necessary if schools are to survive, is socially divisive.• He believes that unemployment is socially divisive and is leading to the creation of an underclass. 