Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1918, from compartmental + -ize. Related: Compartmentalized; compartmentalizing.
Wiktionary
alt. (context transitive English) To separate something into different category or compartments. vb. (context transitive English) To separate something into different category or compartments.
WordNet
v. separate into isolated compartments or categories; "You cannot compartmentalize your life like this!" [syn: compartmentalise, cut up]
Usage examples of "compartmentalize".
Natural caves had been enlarged and regularized to form compartmentalized buildings with ladders on the outside linking their terraces the way the streets linked the buildings on flatter ground.
She tucks it into her toolkit, carefully compartmentalizing just in case, and looks back at the icon.
Religion, on the other hand, often denotes a compartmentalized experience of orthodoxy for one hour or one day and obliviousness the next.
Containment was activated after hours, and if an intruder removed a piece of artwork, compartmentalized exits would seal around that gallery, and the thief would find himself behind bars even before the police arrived.
The old model of drug development often compartmentalized these functions, ghettoizing data that might have been useful to other researchers.
But like her son, she was able to compartmentalize his actions and not become consumed by her deep disappointment and anger.
He had actually avoided thinking about it, in the way that children can compartmentalize things that are too complicated to figure out.
Marcus was able to compartmentalize and put all other considerations aside while she worked.
He kept his mystification to himself, however, because he well knew the Air Force was a compartmentalized outfit.
It was not possible for compartmentalized organic brains deliberating by means of sequential electric impulses to fathom what was taking place among the plants of Midworld.
I’ll sign off on any directive that makes sense, and that is compartmentalized to the point of protecting our involvement.
The information he's brought us is compartmentalized Top Secret -there are to be no notes taken, and no minutes kept.
The project was reportedly compartmentalized and classified under a "Nuclear Weapons" category by President Reagan.
Were their agents so compartmentalized that they couldn't put two and two together?
While McVeigh, Hussaini, and their pals parked the Ryder truck in front of the Murrah Building, the real bombers were the third component of the compartmentalized operation.