Definition of partition

1. judicial separation of interests in land of joint owners or tenants in common, so that each may take possession of, enjoy, and control his separate estate.
2. device to separate space, as used to break a large office area into smaller portions.
3. a portion of a computer's hard disk that is treated by the computer as if it were a separate disk drive. A very large drive is more efficient if partitioned because the file clusters are smaller (so that small files do not waste so much space) and because the computer does not have to search as large an area for data. Communication between partitions, however, is more cumbersome.

a part of a hard disk that is treated by the computer as if it were a separate disk drive. Naturally, most hard disks consist of only one partition. Multiple partitions are sometimes used with very large drives, especially if the drive is larger than those the operating system was designed for.

Under DOS, Windows, and OS/2, the FDISK command sets the partition structure of a hard disk. Any change in the partition structure makes the previous contents of the disk completely unreadable, so don't run FDISK unless you have backed up all your data first.

the division of real property between those who own it with undivided interest.