schism

Vocabulary Word

Definition

A 'schism' is like a devastating break-up, but instead of two people, it's a large group - maybe a team at work, a political party, or a church community. The split happens when there is such strong disagreement that the group can't stay together.

Examples in Different Contexts

In the open-source community, 'schisms' can lead to forks of projects. A developer might comment, 'Due to a schism about the project's future, a group decided to create their own fork and build upon it separately.'

Practice Scenarios

Tech

Scenario:

The debate between using open-source or proprietary software is intensifying in the programming community. It's definitely making it harder to set universal programming standards.

Response:

I agree. We need to find a middle path soon, or this schism will be detrimental to our code standards initiative.

Academics

Scenario:

The research department is witnessing a sharp division over adopting a quantitative or qualitative approach. These conflicts are hampering our research progress.

Response:

Indeed, if left unchecked, this schism could affect our output and department reputation.