From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcross-sectionˈcross-ˌsection noun [countable] 1 PARTsomething that has been cut in half so that you can look at the inside, or a drawing of thiscross-section of a cross-section of a plant stemin cross-section The roof beams were 50 centimetres square in cross-section.2 TYPICALa group of people or things that is typical of a much larger group → samplecross-section of a wide cross-section of the taxpaying population
Examples from the Corpus
cross-section• If one suspends judgement and looks at a cross-section of these novels, one comes away quite impressed.• The league brings together a cross-section of Tucson, the young and old, the movers and shakers.• A cross-section of women were employed.• The arrow indicates the actin cable, seen in cross-section.• In short, the whole project was carefully designed to produce a comprehensive visual cross-section of society in motion. 