divisive
dih-VYE-sivadjMeaning causing disagreement or splitting people into sides
Memory hook DIVIS-ive: it DIVIDES the table. Put a pineapple pizza on the table, and the family splits in two: half cheer, half groan. A topic that divides people is divisive.
Pineapple on pizza is a surprisingly divisive topic in our family.
In context The plan to close the old library proved divisive, splitting the town into two angry camps that argued about it at every meeting.
Similar polarizing, controversial, contentious
Opposite unifying, uniting
From Latin divisus, “divided,” from dividere, “to divide.”