Definition of divisive in US English:

adjective

• Tending to cause disagreement or hostility between people.

  ‘the highly divisive issue of abortion’

  More example sentences

  • ‘During the talks held earlier this year, the time frames were among the most divisive issues.’
  • ‘It was an important declaration of principle on one of the most divisive political issues of the day.’
  • ‘The bottom line is that the IFA is content to avoid what it considers to be a divisive issue.’
  • ‘They are difficult, divisive issues, but they can not be avoided any longer.’
  • ‘It is therefore no surprise that the party always looks for divisive issues.’
  • ‘For at its heart this election has highlighted the thorny, divisive issue of what that flag stands for.’
  • ‘It is the most divisive issue in British politics and has been for over a decade.’
  • ‘Now they're at it again, casting around for a racially or socially divisive issue.’
  • ‘The Trade Ministers will attempt to build bridges in the divisive but linchpin issue of farm trade.’
  • ‘On such a divisive issue, the candidates owe it to the military to tell us where they stand.’
  • ‘The success of the EU has been its ability to find cohesion on even the most divisive of issues.’
  • ‘Abortion has always been a very polarising, divisive issue that is irreconcilable.’
  • ‘Their similarities override their differences, and yet in these towns race has become a divisive issue.’
  • ‘That avenue would be open, that divisive issue would be out there for years to come, and it would not be fixed.’
  • ‘The debate over climate change is certain to become the most divisive issue at the Gleneagles summit.’
  • ‘Race is a very divisive issue and if they managed to get a seat it would be very bad news for everyone in the area.’
  • ‘So few words yet they have led to one of the most divisive issues in our country.’
  • ‘As we've seen lately in campus politics, some issues can be ideologically divisive.’
  • ‘She said she would listen to the people in order to achieve a consensus on the potentially divisive issue.’
  • ‘The abortion issue has opened up the historically divisive issue to wider debate.’

  Synonyms

  alienating, estranging, isolating, schismatic

  View synonyms