subdivision

Etymology

From sub- + division.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A division into smaller pieces of something that has already been divided.
   Formosa: Prewar conditions in Formosa were described in an article in FOREIGN COMMERCE WEEKLY of January 1, 1944. According to an announcement of the official Chinese News Service, there are to be 8 chief administrative subdivisions of Formosa. Although it is not known that their boundary lines will exactly coincide with those of the provinces under Japanese rule, this is probable. Names of the new hsien (districts), with corresponding Japanese province names in parentheses, are as follows: Taipei (Taihoku); Hsinchu (Shinchiku); Taichung (Taichu); Tainan (Tainan); Kaohsiung (Takao); Hwalienkan (Karenko); and Taitung (Taito). The Pescadores Islands form the eighth hsien. Nine cities will continue to be recognized as municipalities: Taipei (Taihoku); Taichung (Taichu); Tainan (Tainan); Chilung (Kiirun or Keelung); Kaohsiung (Takao); Hsinchu (Shinchiku); Chiayi (Kagi); Changhua (Shoka); and Pintung (Heito). 1945 December, Resumption of United States Trade with the Far East: Reopening of Commercial Channels and Relaxation of Trade Controls, Far Eastern Unit, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, →OCLC, page 3
2. (countable) Such a piece that has been divided.
   Work on one subdivision at a time.
3. (countable) A parcel of land that has been divided into lots.
4. (countable) A group of houses created by the same builder or in the same general area.
   They're putting in a new subdivision out past Black Ranch Road.
5. (Philippines) A gated community.
   ... By the 1970s, cattle rustling had fallen by the wayside, as tractors replaced carabaos and industrial estates and residential subdivisions supplanted rice fields as the mainstays of Cavite's suburban northern towns. 1999, Vicente L. Rafael, Figures of Criminality in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Colonial Vietnam, SEAP Publications, page 81
   As the farms give way to the residential subdivisions and industrial estates, the centuries-old traditional Filipino houses, slightly raised above grounds and standing on stilts, are abandoned in the quest for more living space. 2014, Rodelio B. Carating, Raymundo G. Galanta, Clarita D. Bacatio, The Soils of the Philippines, Springer Science & Business, page 51

verb

1. (uncommon) To separate something into smaller pieces.