Definition of "trichotomy" []

• Division into three parts or elements. (noun)
• A system based on three parts or elements. (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.

• "Gilani said that his two-year-old government was following the principle of 'trichotomy' enshrined in the Constitution, which draws "red lines" about the spheres of parliament, executive and the judiciary."
• "Three Paths, indeed . . . and, yet, even that trichotomy seemed far too simple to truly explain it."
• "It is the relationship between the street thug, Arnold, and the siblings that awakens the sleeping racism within this trifling trichotomy."