Main Entry: di·chot·o·my
Etymology: Greek dichotomia, from dichotomos Date: 1610
1: a division into two especially mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities; also : the process or practice of making such a division
2: the phase of the moon or an inferior planet in which half its disk appears illuminated
3 a: bifurcation; (as of a plant's stem)
b: a system of branching in which the main axis forks repeatedly into two branches
c: branching of an ancestral line into two equal diverging branches
4: something with seemingly contradictory qualities
