dichotomy
dye-KOT-uh-meenounMeaning a split into two opposite parts or groups
Memory hook DI-CHOTOMY: CUT in TWO. At summer camp, everyone is split into two opposite teams, Red and Blue, and every game is Red against Blue. That split is a dichotomy.
The story sets up a sharp dichotomy between the noisy city and the quiet farm.
In context The coach rejected the dichotomy between talent and hard work, insisting that every great player she had known needed plenty of both.
Similar division, split, contrast, divide
Opposite unity
From Greek dikhotomia, “a cutting in two”: dikha (in two) + temnein (to cut).