compartmentalize

com·part·men·tal·ize
UK/kɒmpɑː(ɹ)tˈmɛnt(ə)laɪz/US/kəmˌpɑɹtˈmɛntəlˌaɪz/US/kəmpɑɹtˈmɛntl̩ˌaɪz/

verb

To separate something into different categories, or compartments.

UncommonScrabble 33

Meanings

verbcompartmentalize (third-person singular simple present compartmentalizes, present participle compartmentalizing, simple past and past participle compartmentalized)

present singular third person compartmentalizes · participle present compartmentalizing · participle past compartmentalized · past compartmentalized · alternative compartmentalise

  1. transitiveTo separate something into different categories, or compartments.

    (He [speaker Mike Johnson] recently said that women, unlike men, are unable to “compartmentalize” their thoughts.)

    2025 December 9, Michelle Goldberg, “Republican Women Suddenly Realize They’re Surrounded by Misogynists”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
    4 more examples

    In summary, we find the below listed empirical observations coming from our analysis of our Google hospital reviews ¶ The 11 identified valenced topics do not line up well with the standard way that the CMS and other surveys use to measure experiences, i.e., patients do not compartmentalize most of their comments to specific staff—doctors, nurses, etc.—or even departments.

    2024 July 18, Nah Lee, Richard Staelin, “Patient text reviews and preference estimation”, in Marketing Letters, →DOI

    Mediators and co-activators BRD4 and MED1 form phase-separated droplets at SEs that compartmentalize and concentrate the transcription apparatus, suggesting a significant role for co-activators in this process and revealing the regulation mechanisms of function and structure of SE involved in the control of hub cell identity genes.

    2024 August 1, Hongying Ma, Jian Qu, Zicheng Pang, Jian Luo, Min Yan, Weixin Xu, Haihui Zhuang, Linxin Liu, Qiang Qu, “Super-enhancer omics in stem cell”, in Molecular Cancer, volume 23, →DOI, article 153

    Russia and Iran see the wars against Israel and Ukraine as indelibly linked — and we in the West would be foolish to compartmentalize them.

    2024 August 13, Daniel Kochis, “Russia’s links with Iran are growing stronger”, in Politico

    I shook my head at what I saw as this man’s almost pathological ability to compartmentalize the madness he likely played a role in and the quaint, pastoral life he led at the same time. It reminded me of something I was told as a child.

    2026 January 15, Shalom Auslander, “They Were Ordinary Germans. We Are Ordinary Americans.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

Synonyms & antonyms

verbseparate into isolated compartments or categories

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Italic*kom
  4. Proto-Italic*kom-
  5. Latincom-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*perh₃-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*pérh₃tis?
  8. Proto-Italic*partis
  9. Latinpars
  10. Latinpartiō
  11. Latinpartior
  12. Latincompartīrī
  13. Italiancompartire
  14. Italiancompartimento
  15. Middle Frenchcompartiment
  16. Englishcompartment
  17. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  18. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  19. Englishcompartmental
  20. Englishcompartmentalize

From compartmental + -ize.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan compartimentar
  • compartimentarseparate into different categories
Chinese Cantonese 劃分 /划分
  • 劃分 /划分 (waak⁶ fan¹)separate into different categories
Chinese Mandarin 劃分 /划分
  • 劃分 /划分 (huàfēn)separate into different categories
Dutch compartimenteren
  • compartimenterenseparate into different categories
Finnish osastoida, jaotella
  • osastoidaseparate into different categories
  • jaotellaseparate into different categories
French compartimenter
  • compartimenterseparate into different categories
German aufgliedern, unterteilen
  • aufgliedernseparate into different categories
  • unterteilenseparate into different categories
Italian compartimentalizzare
  • compartimentalizzareseparate into different categories
Polish dzielić, podzielić
  • dzielićseparate into different categories
  • podzielićseparate into different categories
  • szufladkowaćseparate into different categories
Portuguese compartimentar
  • compartimentarseparate into different categories
Romanian compartimenta
  • compartimentaseparate into different categories
Spanish compartimentar
  • compartimentarseparate into different categories
Cite this entry
APA

compartmentalize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compartmentalize

MLA

“compartmentalize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compartmentalize. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “compartmentalize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/compartmentalize.

Source: compartmentalize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.