Definition of "dichotomy" []

• Division into two usually contradictory parts or opinions: "the dichotomy of the one and the many” ( Louis Auchincloss). (noun)
• Astronomy The phase of the moon, Mercury, or Venus when half of the disk is illuminated. (noun)
• Botany Branching characterized by successive forking into two approximately equal divisions. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Arguably, this dichotomy is a deeply unhealthy attitude, a neurosis situating self entirely in the superego and demonising the libido as a base and bestial “animal nature” that must be mastered, rather than the natural self-correcting impulses of a homeostatic system designed to maintain a dynamic equilibrium."
• "Granted, I'm only a few hours into the game, but the dichotomy is already jumping out at me: Your girlfriend's being dragged away for advanced torture into a helicopter that is about to take off, and you ..."
• "It might be argued that this dichotomy is a relatively late development of Western/European culture, that Art in this sense does not exist until it separates itself out from Religion and Craft, becoming a distinct discourse with its own ethos only in the context of post-renaissance capitalism where it becomes valuable in and of itself."