Definition of "polarization"

the production or the condition of polarity

1. (sociology) the grouping of opinions into two extremes  quotations

   Quotations

   • Polarization is tearing at the seams of democracies around the world, from Brazil and India to Poland and Turkey.

     2019 October 1, Thomas Carothers, Andrew O’Donohue, “How to Understand the Global Spread of Political Polarization”, in Carnegie Endowment for International Peace‎, archived from the original on 2023-02-14

2. (physics) the production of polarized light; the direction in which the electric field of an electromagnetic wave points  examples

3. (chemistry, physics) the separation of positive and negative charges in a nucleus, atom, molecule or system  examples