demarcation
/ˌdɛm.ɑɹˈkeɪ.ʃən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.79 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The act of marking off a boundary or setting a limit, notably by belligerents signing a treaty or ceasefire.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "About sunset, he was leaning on the remains of an old wall, which had once probably surrounded a Roman encampment, and now served as a line of demarcation between two villages, as jealous of each other's claims as near neighbours usually are."
- "There is an alleged, in fact somewhat artificial demarcation in the type of work done by members of different trade unions."
- "In the sea there is no demarcation between the hunter and the hunted, as there is on the African plains."
- "Certainly no clear line of demarcation has as yet been drawn between species and sub-species—that is, the forms which in the opinion of some naturalists come very near to, but do not quite arrive at the rank of species; or, again, between sub-species and well-marked varieties, or between lesser varieties and individual differences. These differences blend into each other in an insensible series; and a series impresses the mind with the idea of an actual passage."
Etymology
First recorded c.1752, from Spanish línea de demarcación and/or Portuguese linha de demarcação, the demarcation line laid down by the Pope on May 4, 1493, dividing the New World between Spain and Portugal on a line 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Both derive from demarcar, from de- + marcar (“to mark”), from Italian marcare, from the same Germanic root as march.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌdɛm.ɑɹˈkeɪ.ʃən/
- British English: /ˌdɛm.ɑːˈkeɪ.ʃən/