Session vs. Section — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on October 6, 2023
Session refers to a period or meeting during which activities are conducted, while Section denotes a distinct portion or part of something larger.
Difference Between Session and Section
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Session and Section are distinct in terms of meaning and application, though both represent a specific duration or segment. A session often refers to a period of time during which a particular activity or series of activities take place. For instance, in educational contexts, a school session denotes the duration during which classes are held. A section, on the other hand, indicates a specific part or segment of a whole, like a section of a newspaper or a book chapter.
In legislative contexts, a session is the time during which a legislative body meets to conduct its business. This could be a daily session or a session spanning over months. Conversely, a section in this context would refer to a specific portion of a legal document or statute.
There are also technological connotations. In computing, a session might refer to the period a user interacts with a system or software. On websites, we hear about session cookies, representing data retained for a single browsing period. On the flip side, a section in technology might refer to a specific portion of code or a segment of a disk.
In therapeutic contexts, a session pertains to a meeting between a therapist and client, usually lasting a fixed period. A section, meanwhile, can be a particular segment of a therapeutic program or manual.
Furthermore, both words, while distinct, can sometimes be used together. A session of a conference might be divided into multiple sections, each dedicated to a specific topic or area of discussion.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A period during which activities are conducted
A distinct portion or part of something larger
Usage
Refers to time
Refers to space or content
Examples
Legislative session, therapy session
Book section, section of a document
In Technology
User's interaction period with software
Segment of code or a disk
Combinatorial Use
Can be a part of an event or program
Can be a segment within a session
Compare with Definitions
Session
A gathering of people for a purpose, like a seminar.
She attended a brainstorming session at the conference.
Section
A distinct part of a larger entity.
The final section of the symphony was exhilarating.
Session
A period of time dedicated to a specific activity.
The therapy session lasted an hour.
Section
One of the parts into which an object is divided.
Under the microscope, the tissue section revealed abnormal cells.
Session
A meeting of a legislative or judicial body.
The Senate will reconvene for a special session next week.
Section
A continuous area in a land or space.
They live in the northern section of the city.
Session
A user's interaction with a computer system.
The software tracks user data during each session.
Section
One of several components; a piece.
Session
The period during which classes are held.
The summer session at the university starts in June.
Section
A subdivision of a written work.
Session
A meeting of an official body, especially a legislature, council, or court of law, to conduct its business
The governor called this week's special session to reconsider the decision
Section
(Law) A distinct portion or provision of a legal code or set of laws, often establishing a particular legal requirement
Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
Session
A period devoted to a particular activity
Gym is followed by a training session
Section
A distinct portion of a newspaper
The sports section.
Session
The governing body of a Presbyterian Church.
Section
A distinct area of a town, county, or country
A residential section.
Session
A meeting of a legislative or judicial body for the purpose of transacting business.
Section
A land unit equal to one square mile (2.59 square kilometers), 640 acres, or 1/36 of a township.
Session
A series of such meetings.
Section
The act or process of separating or cutting, especially the surgical cutting or dividing of tissue.
Session
The term or duration of time that is taken by such a series of meetings.
Section
A thin slice, as of tissue, suitable for microscopic examination.
Session
The part of a year or of a day during which a school holds classes.
Section
A segment of a fruit, especially a citrus fruit.
Session
A period of time devoted to a specific activity
A recording session at a music studio.
A login session that was disrupted by a power outage.
Section
Representation of a solid object as it would appear if cut by an intersecting plane, so that the internal structure is displayed.
Session
A period devoted to a particular activity, e.g. the annual or semiannual periods of a legislative body (that together comprise the legislative term) whose individual meetings are also called sessions.
A training session
"Are we having a recording session?" / "Yes. We've even got some session musicians to provide some brass."
Section
(Music) A group of instruments or voices in the same class considered as a division of a band, orchestra, or choir
The rhythm section.
The woodwind section.
Session
A meeting of a council, court, school, or legislative body to conduct its business.
This court is now in session.
Section
A class or discussion group of students taking the same course
She taught three sections of English composition.
Session
(computing) The sequence of interactions between client and server, or between user and system; the period during which a user is logged in or connected.
Logging out or shutting down the computer will end your session.
Section
A portion of railroad track maintained by a single crew.
Session
(cricket) Any of the three scheduled two hour playing sessions, from the start of play to lunch, from lunch to tea and from tea to the close of play.
Section
An area in a train's sleeping car containing an upper and lower berth.
Session
(obsolete) The act of sitting, or the state of being seated.
Section
An army tactical unit smaller than a platoon and larger than a squad.
Session
(music) jam session
Section
A unit of vessels or aircraft within a division of armed forces.
Session
(education) An academic term
Section
One of two or more vehicles, such as a bus or train, given the same route and schedule, often used to carry extra passengers.
Session
(beer) An extended period of drinking, typically consuming beer with low alcohol content.
Section
The character (§) used in printing to mark the beginning of a section.
Session
(music) To hold or participate in a jam session with other musicians.
Section
This character used as the fourth in a series of reference marks for footnotes.
Session
The act of sitting, or the state of being seated.
So much his ascension into heaven and his session at the right hand of God do import.
But Viven, gathering somewhat of his mood, . . . Leaped from her session on his lap, and stood.
Section
(Informal) A cesarean section.
Session
The actual sitting of a court, council, legislature, etc., or the actual assembly of the members of such a body, for the transaction of business.
It's fit this royal session do proceed.
Section
To separate or divide into parts.
Session
Hence, also, the time, period, or term during which a court, council, legislature, etc., meets daily for business; or, the space of time between the first meeting and the prorogation or adjournment; thus, a session of Parliaments is opened with a speech from the throne, and closed by prorogation. The session of a judicial court is called a term.
It was resolved that the convocation should meet at the beginning of the next session of Parliament.
Section
To cut or divide (tissue) surgically.
Session
A meeting for execution of a group's functions;
It was the opening session of the legislature
Section
To shade or crosshatch (part of a drawing) to indicate sections.
Session
The time during which a school holds classes;
They had to shorten the school term
Section
(Informal) To perform a cesarean section on.
Session
A meeting devoted to a particular activity;
A filming session
A gossip session
Section
A cutting; a part cut out from the rest of something.
Session
A meeting of spiritualists;
The seance was held in the medium's parlor
Section
A part, piece, subdivision of anything.
Section
(music) A group of instruments in an orchestra.
The horn section is the group of symphonic musicians who play the French horn.
Section
A part of a document.
Section
An act or instance of cutting.
Section
A cross-section (image that shows an object as if cut along a plane).
Section
(aviation) A cross-section perpendicular the longitudinal axis of an aircraft in flight.
Section
(surgery) An incision or the act of making an incision.
Section
(sciences) A thin slice of material prepared as a specimen for research.
Section
(botany) A taxonomic rank below the genus (and subgenus if present), but above the species.
Section
(zoology) An informal taxonomic rank below the order ranks and above the family ranks.
Section
(military) A group of 10-15 soldiers led by a non-commissioned officer and forming part of a platoon.
Section
(category theory) A right inverse.
Section
(NZ) A piece of residential land; a plot.
Section
(Canadian) A one-mile square area of land, defined by a government survey.
Section
Any of the squares, each containing 640 acres, into which the public lands of the United States were divided.
Section
The symbol §, denoting a section of a document.
Section
(geology) A sequence of rock layers.
Section
A class in a school; a group of students in a regularly scheduled meeting with a teacher in a certain school year or semester or school quarter year.
Section
To cut, divide or separate into pieces.
Section
To reduce to the degree of thinness required for study with the microscope.
Section
(UK) To commit (a person, to a hospital, with or without their consent), as for mental health reasons. So called after various sections of legal acts regarding mental health.
Section
To perform a cesarean section on (someone).
Section
The act of cutting, or separation by cutting; as, the section of bodies.
Section
A part separated from something; a division; a portion; a slice.
Section
A distinct part or portion of a book or writing; a subdivision of a chapter; the division of a law or other writing; a paragraph; an article; hence, the character often used to denote such a division.
It is hardly possible to give a distinct view of his several arguments in distinct sections.
Section
The figure made up of all the points common to a superficies and a solid which meet, or to two superficies which meet, or to two lines which meet. In the first case the section is a superficies, in the second a line, and in the third a point.
Section
A distinct part of a country or people, community, class, or the like; a part of a territory separated by geographical lines, or of a people considered as distinct.
The extreme section of one class consists of bigoted dotards, the extreme section of the other consists of shallow and reckless empirics.
Section
A division of a genus; a group of species separated by some distinction from others of the same genus; - often indicated by the sign .
Section
One of the portions, of one square mile each, into which the public lands of the United States are divided; one thirty-sixth part of a township. These sections are subdivided into quarter sections for sale under the homestead and preëmption laws.
Section
A part of a musical period, composed of one or more phrases. See Phrase.
Section
The description or representation of anything as it would appear if cut through by any intersecting plane; depiction of what is beyond a plane passing through, or supposed to pass through, an object, as a building, a machine, a succession of strata; profile.
Section
A self-contained part of a larger composition (written or musical);
He always turns first to the business section
The history of this work is discussed in the next section
Section
A very thin slice (of tissue or mineral or other substance) for examination under a microscope;
Sections from the left ventricle showed diseased tissue
Section
A distinct region or subdivision of a territorial or political area or community or group of people;
No section of the nation is more ardent than the South
There are three synagogues in the Jewish section
Section
One of several parts or pieces that fit with others to constitute a whole object;
A section of a fishing rod
Metal sections were used below ground
Finished the final segment of the road
Section
A small team of policemen working as part of a police platoon
Section
One of the portions into which something is regarded as divided and which together constitute a whole;
The written part of the exam
The finance section of the company
The BBC's engineering division
Section
A land unit of 1 square mile measuring 1 mile on a side
Section
(geometry) the area created by a plane cutting through a solid
Section
A division of an orchestra containing all instruments of the same class
Section
A small army unit usually having a special function
Section
A specialized division of a large organization;
You'll find it in the hardware department
She got a job in the historical section of the Treasury
Section
A segment of a citrus fruit;
He ate a section of the orange
Section
The cutting of or into body tissues or organs (especially by a surgeon as part of an operation)
Section
Divide into segments;
Segment an orange
Segment a compound word
Section
This section of the report covers our financial growth.
A segment of a musical composition.
Section
The orchestra's string section was particularly good tonight.
A cut or division made by dissecting.
Common Curiosities
Are sections always smaller than sessions?
Not necessarily. The term "session" refers to time, and "section" refers to a part of a whole, so their sizes are context-dependent.
How is the term "section" used in surgeries?
In medical contexts, "section" can refer to a procedure like a "cesarean section."
Do both session and section denote time durations?
No, only "session" typically denotes a time duration, while "section" refers to a segment or part.
What's a browser session?
A browser session represents the time a user spends actively interacting with a website until they close the browser or tab.
What does a "section" mean in music?
In music, a "section" refers to a distinct part or segment of a composition.
Can a book chapter be called a session?
No, a book chapter would be referred to as a "section" or "chapter," not a session.
Can a conference have multiple sessions?
Yes, a conference can be divided into multiple sessions based on topics or timings.
How is "section" used in the context of real estate?
In real estate, a "section" can refer to a specific parcel or plot of land.
Are all meetings called sessions?
No, only certain meetings, typically those with a specific purpose or duration, are called sessions.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
