Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use divisive in a sentence

16 example sentences · adjective

Divisive means having a quality that divides or separates. Example: “Rather than fostering unity, he becomes divisive.”

Examples of divisive by meaning

adjectiveHaving a quality that divides or separates.

  • Rather than fostering unity, he becomes divisive.

More sentences with divisive

  • “I’ve always been quite a Marmite personality,” she says, comparing herself to the divisive umami toast spread.2022 June 2, Anna Peele, quoting Olivia Attwood, “Inside ‘Love Island,’ From the Tragic Suicide Deaths to New Mental Health Protocols”, in…. From the entry marmite
  • The most powerful and least divisive way to decrease abortion is to reduce unintended pregnancy.2006 May, Ceci Connolly, quoting Sarah Brown, “Unintended Pregnancy Linked to State Funding Cuts”, in The Washington Post, archived from…. From the entry unintended
  • Issues that are already hotly contested become even more divisive in the context of social balkanization.2002, Carol M. Swain, The New White Nationalism in America, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 94. From the entry balkanization
  • It is clear that Shrekking is a divisive concept.2026 June 22, Jessica Scemama, “What’s the Deal With 'Shrekking'?”, in Vogue. From the entry Shrekking
  • Like this was designed to be maximally divisive.2023 May 5, @JeremiahDJohns, Twitter, archived from the original on 15 Jun 2024. From the entry scissor statement
  • After a divisive tenure as chief whip, difficult time as defence secretary and deeply troubled time as education secretary.9 November 2022, Sam Coates, “Gavin Williamson's departure is about more than just the messages”, in Sky News. From the entry pantomime villain
  • They have helped foster a corrosive, mean-spirited, angry and divisive atmosphere that May and her lieutenants are too weak to challenge.2017 March 27, “The Observer view on triggering article 50”, in The Observer. From the entry swill
  • His resultant report was inaccurate and divisive.1979 August 25, Steven Tierney, “Darts”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 6, page 5. From the entry check out
  • Thrashing things out is not divisive.1989 April 15, Angela Bowen, “Towards a National Lesbian Conference”, in Gay Community News, page 3. From the entry thrash out
  • DOGE has highlighted how USAID spent millions propping up the Marxist ideology of “diversity, equity, and inclusion;” the unfair and divisive transgender orthodoxy; and the climate alarmist movement.2025 February 26, “USAID’s Troubling Ties to the Left’s Dark Money Network”, in Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, page 2. From the entry USAID
  • Tourists visited a memorial hall adorned by a slogan in the handwriting of Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan's divisive former nationalist leader: "Stay alert and prepare for battle."2023 April 10, “Taiwan's frontline islanders resigned in face of Chinese military might”, in France 24, archived from the original on 10…. From the entry prepare
  • Despite being a rising NASCAR star, he said it became “extremely difficult” to attract sponsors because major corporations saw his unintentional association with the LGB meme to be divisive.2022 January 5, “NASCAR rejects ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ sponsorship”, in RT, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2022. From the entry NASCAR
  • The pact of silence refers to the tacit agreement that the divisive issues of the past should be removed from the public sphere (a sort of gag rule).2020, The Oxford Handbook of Spanish Politics, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 44. From the entry pact of silence
  • Some noted with bemused incuriosity that Tunney, an avowed anticapitalist “tranarchist” (transgender anarchist), was at one time a prominent and divisive fixture of the Occupy Wall Street movement.2018, Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley, unnumbered page. From the entry tranarchist
  • Getting a sense of inter-generational solidarity and buy-in to a revised social contract will be critical to reform, and any approach that salami-slices the population risks instead becoming highly divisive.2018 March 22, Melanie Henwood, “Jeremy Hunt’s seven principles on adult social care reform: a new way forward or just rhetoric?”, in…. From the entry salami-slice

Meaning of divisive

  1. adjective Having a quality that divides or separates.

Full definition of divisive

Questions about divisive in a sentence

How do you use divisive in a sentence?
Divisive is used as an adjective. For example: “Rather than fostering unity, he becomes divisive.”
What is a short sentence with divisive?
“Thrashing things out is not divisive.”
What does divisive mean?
Divisive means having a quality that divides or separates.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: divisive (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use divisive in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/divisive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.