department - English dictionary definition

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Department Act of departing; departure.
Department A part, portion, or subdivision.
Department A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like; appointed sphere or walk; province.
Department Subdivision of business or official duty; especially, one of the principal divisions of executive government; as, the treasury department; the war department; also, in a university, one of the divisions of instruction; as, the medical department; the department of physics.
Department A territorial division; a district; esp., in France, one of the districts composed of several arrondissements into which the country is divided for governmental purposes; as, the Department of the Loire.
Department A military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac.
department a specialized sphere of knowledge; "baking is not my department"; "his work established a new department of literature"
department head the head of a department
Department of Agriculture the federal department that administers programs that provide services to farmers including research and soil conservation and efforts to stabilize the farming economy; created in 1862
department of anthropology the academic department responsible for teaching and research in anthropology

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