partition

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If a substance is in contact with two different phases then, in general, it will have a different affinity for each phase. Part of the substance will be absorbed or dissolved by one and part by the other, the relative amounts depending on the relative affinities. The substance is said to be partitioned between the two phases. For example, if two immiscible liquids are taken and a third compound is shaken up with them, then an equilibrium is reached in which the concentration in one solvent differs from that in the other. The ratio of the concentrations is the partition coefficient of the system. The partition law states that this ratio is a constant for given liquids.

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To divide a resource or application into smaller pieces. See partition, application partitioning and PDQ.

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1. judicial separation of interests in land of joint owners or tenants in common, so that each may take possession of, enjoy, and control his separate estate.


2. device to separate space, as used to break a large office area into smaller portions.


3. a portion of a computer’s hard disk that is treated by the computer as if it were a separate disk drive. A very large drive is more efficient if partitioned because the file clusters are smaller (so that small files do not waste so much space) and because the computer does not have to search as large an area for data. Communication between partitions, however, is more cumbersome.

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The division of real property between those who own it with undivided interest.


Example: Abel and Baker own land by tenancy in common until they partition it. Thereafter, each owns a particular tract of land (Figure 139).

FIG. 139. PARTITION

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noun

1. The act or an instance of separating one thing from another: detachment, disjunction, disjuncture, disseverance, disseverment, disunion, division, divorce, divorcement, parting, separation, severance, split. See assemble/disassemble, part/whole.
2. A solid structure that encloses an area or separates one area from another: barrier, wall. See include/exclude, thing.

verb

1. To make a division into parts, sections, or branches: break up, dissever, divide, part, section, segment, separate. See assemble/disassemble, part/whole.
2. To separate with or as if with a wall: fence, wall. See include/exclude.

n

Definition: divider, division
Antonyms: attachment, juncture, union, unity

v

Definition: divide, separate
Antonyms: attach, combine, join, unite

Attempt to resolve political disputes through the drawing of territorial boundaries. Ireland and India were both partitioned by the British rulers upon the granting of Independence, leading to the creation of Northern Ireland and Pakistan. In both cases the drawing of the boundaries was contentious—since the religious groups that partition was meant to separate did not conform to compact geographical areas—and rather than resolving the underlying disputes can be seen to have exacerbated them. The island of Cyprus was partitioned after a conflict between Greece and Turkey in 1974.

— Alistair McMillan

1. A dividing wall within a building; may be bearing or non-load-bearing.
2. In sound-transmission considerations, any building component (or a combination of components), such as a wall, door, window, roof, or floor-ceiling assembly, that separates one space from another.

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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Any division of real property or personal property between co-owners, resulting in individual ownership of the interests of each.

The co-ownership of real and personal property can have many benefits to the parties. But when there is discord and the owners cannot agree on the use, improvement, or disposition of the property, all states have laws that permit the remedy of partition.

Most cases of partition involve real property. Persons can own property as tenants in common or joint tenants. As common owners of the property, they have equal rights in the use and enjoyment of the property. Partition statutes allow those who own property in common to sever their interests and take their individual share of the property.

Partition may be either voluntary or compulsory. Voluntary partition is when the cotenants (owners) divide the property themselves, usually by exchanging individual deeds. Each co-owner owns a part of the property and ceases to have an undivided interest in the whole. The parties can also provide for the sale of the property and divide the proceeds among themselves.

When the co-owners cannot agree on the value of the property and their rightful shares, they may select a disinterested third person, such as an arbitrator or an appraiser, to divide the property and to allot the shares. A voluntary partition by all the co-owners is legally effective unless there is a contractual challenge to its recognition. These challenges include allegations of fraud or unconscionability, or the allegation that the parties are seeking to defraud a third party by agreeing to the partition.

When the co-owners cannot agree to a voluntary partition, a lawsuit to compel partition can be filed to sever property interests. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, a tenant in common or a joint tenant has the absolute right to seek a compulsory partition. Partition must be made even if every other owner objects to it. The motives of the party seeking partition are irrelevant, and the court that hears the lawsuit has no discretion to deny partition. Its main function is to determine the method of executing the partition. Commonly the court will order the property sold and the proceeds divided, instead of ordering a physical partition of the property. If the title to the property is put into issue, most states permit the court to resolve this issue as well as the partition.

Both real and personal property can be subject to compulsory partition. Real property that can be subject to partition includes a building, a story of a building, the land on which a building rests, or the surface of land where there is an oil or gas lease.

Similarly, personal property can be subjected to compulsory partition. The fact that the property is owned in unequal shares does not affect the partition. The right has been enforced with respect to a cashier's check payable jointly to those who share a tenancy in common, promissory notes, shares of stock in a corporation, and stocks of merchandise.

See: joint tenancy.

A division of a nation or territory into two or more nations. Cyprus, Germany, India, Ireland, Korea, Palestine, and Vietnam are notable examples of countries that have undergone partition.

1. (in chemistry) or distribution the equilibration of a solute between two phases (usually of differing composition); the result of such a process.
2. (in genetics) the events that lead to the separation of chromosomes or to the segregation of plasmids into daughter cells in prokaryotic organisms.

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For a list of words related to partition, see:

• Building and Machine Parts - partition: interior wall
• Cuts, Sizes, Treatments, and Forms of Wood - partition: large sheet of wood or other material used to divide interior areas
• Doors, Partitions, and Walls - partition: interior dividing wall, sometimes movable and not reaching to ceiling
• Curtains, Draperies, and Screens - partition: interior wall or barrier that divides room into sections
• Order, Hierarchy, and Systems - partition: division into constituent elements

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See words rhyming with "partitioner."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Partition.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - deling, del, skillevæg
v. tr. - dele, opspalte

Nederlands (Dutch)
tussenschot, verdeling, deel, verdelen

Français (French)
n. - cloison, (Pol) partition, (Jur) morcellement
v. tr. - (Pol) diviser, partager, (Jur) morceler

Deutsch (German)
n. - Trennwand, Abteilung, Teilung
v. - teilen, unterteilen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - διανομή, κατανομή, διαμελισμός, τεμαχισμός, διχοτόμηση, (οικοδ.) μεσότοιχος, χώρισμα
v. - χωρίζω σε μέρη, διχοτομώ

Italiano (Italian)
dividere, spartire, tramezzo, parete divisoria, divisione, partizione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - divisória (f), separação (f), partilha (f)
v. - dividir, distribuir, separar

Русский (Russian)
перегораживать, разделять, перегородка, разделение

Español (Spanish)
n. - tabique, pared medianera, partición, división, separación
v. tr. - dividir, partir, repartir

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - delning, avdelning, fack, skiljevägg, avbalkning
v. - dela, avskilja

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
分割, 瓜分, 划分, 区分, 隔开

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 分割, 瓜分, 劃分
v. tr. - 區分, 分割, 隔開

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 분할, 칸막이, 가르기 (다수의 프로그램을 동시에 수행시키기 위해 주기억장치를 몇 개의 구역으로 나눈 것)
v. tr. - 분할하다, 구분하다, 칸막이하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 仕切ること, 分割, 仕切り, 第二段, 仕切, 区画
v. - 仕切る, 分割する

idioms:

• partition of the estate    財産分配

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) تجزئه, جزء, قاطع, حاجز (فعل) يقسم, يجزئ‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מחיצה, חיץ, חלוקה‬
v. tr. - ‮הפריד במחיצות, חילק, חצץ‬

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