Meanings
nouncompartmentalism (uncountable)
- uncountableA tendency to compartmentalize, or keep things separate
They were also an important means of promoting contact between MOs working in different units, and so combating the problem of compartmentalism by facilitating exchanges of information on the latest medical techniques […]
2013, Ian R. Whitehead, Doctors in the Great War
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
- Proto-Italic*kom
- Proto-Italic*kom-
- Latincom-
- Proto-Indo-European*perh₃-
- Proto-Indo-European*pérh₃tis?
- Proto-Italic*partis
- Latinpars
- Latinpartiō
- Latinpartior
- Latincompartīrī
- Italiancompartire
- Italiancompartimento
- Middle Frenchcompartiment
- Englishcompartment
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
- Englishcompartmental
- Englishcompartmentalism
From compartmental + -ism.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
compartmentalism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compartmentalism
MLA
“compartmentalism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compartmentalism. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “compartmentalism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compartmentalism.
Source: compartmentalism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.