one of the separate parts that something is divided into
The pie was cut into eight equal segments for everyone.
Only a small segment of the wall needed repainting.
✦ from Latin segmentum “a piece cut off”, from secare “to cut”
a short part of a television, radio, or online program
The interview will air in the final segment of the show.
I missed the weather segment because I answered the phone.
✦ extended media sense from the general meaning of “part.”
in geometry, a part of a line or circle between two points or boundaries
On the board, the teacher drew a segment between points A and B.
Find the length of the shaded segment of the circle.
✦ technical use adopted in 18th-century mathematics for bounded parts of figures.
a clearly separated part of an animal or plant body, especially one of the repeating sections in worms or insects
An earthworm’s body is made of many ring-like segments.
The insect’s abdomen has three main segments.
✦ specialized biological sense recorded in the 19th century, extending the idea of a cut-off piece to anatomy.
to divide something into parts, or to become divided into parts
They segment the video into short clips for social media.
The database will segment customers by age and location.
✦ verb use from the noun, first recorded in the late 19th century.
