Weekly Word: Bifurcate

This weeks word is one that I have come across a lot in the legal context, and I think it is just the funniest word in the world for a few reasons. 1. Because it sounds so weird when you use it...definitely a $0.50 word. 2. Because I don't think that many people know that it has uses outside of the legal world. and 3. Because if you rip out the word bifurcate in a sentence, let me tell you, a lot of people will be impressed with the language. It makes the word Pedantic look like an obnoxious attempt to sound smart without any knowledge of the english language.

According to Webster, it means the following:

transitive verb : to cause to divide into two branches or parts.

In more contextual settings, such as the law:
Bifurcation (law), the division of issues in a trial for example the division of a page into two parts.

And in the world of clothing:
Bifurcation in context of clothing: clothing which separately covers each leg (such as trousers) is called bifurcated clothing, while clothing which covers them jointly (such as skirt) is called unbifurcated clothing.

Things or areas that you may want to or are interested in using Bifurcate:
A road that is under construction and being split, you could use the word bifurcate.
"They are going to bifurcate the highway."

You could use it in the world of work, when a discussion is getting too complex.
"Let's bifurcate this discussion"

That is the end of the the weekly word!