divide and conquer

English

Etymology

Calque of Latin dīvide et imperā.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Proverb

divide and conquer

1. In order to rule securely, do not allow alliances between your enemies.

Translations

in order to rule securely, do not allow alliances between your enemies

• Finnish: hajota ja hallitse (fi)
• German: teile und herrsche (de)
• Hungarian: oszd meg és uralkodj (hu)
• Latin: divide et impera
• Polish: dziel i rządź

Verb

divide and conquer (third-person singular simple present divides and conquers, present participle dividing and conquering, simple past and past participle divided and conquered)

1. To use a combination of political, military and economic strategies that aim to gain and maintain power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy.

   Synonym: divide and rule

   • 2020 December 2, Philip Haigh, “A winter of discontent caused by threat of union action”, in Rail, page 62:

     It added that it can't begin pay talks without permission from Transport Scotland, and then cited a TSSA union survey of ScotRail that suggested that most of its members were against strikes, instead preferring job security rather than a pay rise. This prompted the TSSA to accuse ScotRail of trying to divide and conquer.

Translations

Translations

• Hungarian: megoszt és uralkodik
• Polish: dzielić i rządzić impf

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked‌: "Divide and conquer"

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} فَرِّق تَسُد (farriq tasud)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 分而治之 (zh) (fēn'érzhìzhī)

• Czech: ^{(please verify)} rozděl a panuj
• Danish: ^{(please verify)} del og hersk
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} divide et impera, ^{(please verify)} deel en heers, ^{(please verify)} verdeel en heers
• French: ^{(please verify)} diviser pour mieux régner (fr)
• Gagauz: ^{(please verify)} ayır, buyur
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} დაყავი და იბატონე (ka) (daq̇avi da ibaṭone)
• Greek: ^{(please verify)} διαίρει και βασίλευε (el) (diaírei kai vasíleve)
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} הפרד ומשול (he) (hafréd umshól)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} deila og drottna
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} dividi e domina
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 分割統治 (ぶんかつとうち, bunkatsu-tōchi)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 분열시킨 뒤에 정복한다 (bunyeolsikin dwie jeongbokhanda)
• Pannonian Rusyn: ^{(please verify)} подзель и пануй (podzelʹ i panuj)
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} dividir e conquistar
• Russian: ^{(please verify)} разделя́й и вла́ствуй (razdeljáj i vlástvuj)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} завади па владај (zavadi pa vladaj)
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} deli in vladaj
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} divide y conquista, ^{(please verify)} divide y vencerás
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} söndra och härska
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} böl ve yönet
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} chia để trị (vi)

Noun

divide and conquer (uncountable)

1. A strategy for achieving political or military control.
2. (computer science) An algorithm design technique that solves a problem by splitting it recursively into smaller problems until all of the remaining problems are trivial.

   The quicksort algorithm is an example of divide and conquer.

3. A phacoemulsification technique in which the nucleus is grooved and divided into halves.

   Coordinate term: stop and chop