Yogi Berra, the baseball great who was noted for his head-scratching quotes, is purported to have said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi's advice might not offer much help when making tough decisions in life, but perhaps it will help you remember bifurcate. A road that bifurcates splits in two like the one in Yogi's adage. Other things can bifurcate as well, such as an organization that splits into two factions. Bifurcate derives from the Latin bifurcus, meaning "two-pronged," a combination of the prefix bi- ("two") and the noun furca ("fork"). Furca, as you can probably tell, gave us our word fork.
Example Sentences
The stream bifurcated into two narrow winding channels. bifurcate a beam of light
Recent Examples on the WebWhere technology used to bifurcate different levels of the C-suite, it’s now the driving force that brings executives together and changes the composition of the executive team. David Andrade, Forbes, 15 July 2022 According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Bertinelli filed a 13-page request to bifurcate her marital status from financial issues when her ex-husband asked for $50,000 per month in spousal support. Natalia Senanayake, Peoplemag, 4 Aug. 2022 On Wednesday, the Food Network host filed a 13-page request to bifurcate her marital status from financial issues in her and Tom Vitale's divorce, according to court records obtained by PEOPLE. Antonia Debianchi, PEOPLE.com, 18 July 2022 He was meant to chat with Jeremy Renner, but when the Hawkeye star failed to show Brolin had no choice but to bifurcate himself and occupy both seats. Christian Holub, EW.com, 13 June 2022 Such a strategy should not bifurcate experiences between the physical and digital worlds, but rather employ all the tools at their disposal to harmonize those channels and allow retailers to fulfill customer demands more fluidly. Guy Courtin, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2021 Google’s decision Wednesday to move away from individualized user tracking in its own ad operations means digital advertising could bifurcate, with a Google ecosystem that has one set of rules and the rest of the web following another. Patience Haggin, WSJ, 4 Mar. 2021 What is needed, scientists said in interviews, is for the city or another entity to essentially bifurcate the current coronavirus testing process. Joseph Goldstein, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2021 That episode taught many to bifurcate their CNN-watching and market-tracking brains. Justina Lee, Bloomberg.com, 15 June 2020 See More
Word History
Etymology
Medieval Latin bifurcatus, past participle of bifurcare, from Latin bifurcus two-pronged, from bi- + furca fork