Link Centre Dictionary

divaricate

di·va·ri·cate

UK/daɪˈvæɹɪkeɪt/ uncommon

verb

1.

branch off

  • “The road divaricates here”
2.

spread apart

  • “divaricate one”

Origin

The verb is first attested in 1623, the adjective in 1788; borrowed from Latin dīvāricātus, perfect passive participle of dīvāricō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from dis- + vāricō (“to straddle, to stretch (the legs) apart”), from vāricus (“straddling”).

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.