segregate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
segregates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
segregated,
past participle, past
-
segregating
present participle
-
to separate or set apart from others or from the main body or group; isolate.
to segregate exceptional children; to segregate hardened criminals.
- Antonyms:
- integrate
-
to require, by law or custom, the separation of (an ethnic, racial, religious, or other minority group) from the dominant majority.
verb (used without object)
-
segregates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
segregated,
past participle, past
-
segregating
present participle
-
to separate, withdraw, or go apart; separate from the main body and collect in one place; become segregated.
-
to practice, require, or enforce segregation, especially racial segregation.
-
Genetics. (of allelic genes) to separate during meiosis.
noun
verb
-
to set or be set apart from others or from the main group
-
(tr) to impose segregation on (a racial or minority group)
-
genetics metallurgy to undergo or cause to undergo segregation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
segregatornoun
-
resegregateverb
-
nonsegregableadjective
-
nonsegregativeadjective
-
segregableadjective
-
segregativeadjective
-
unsegregableadjective
-
unsegregatingadjective
-
unsegregativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
segregatesimple
-
segregatessimple
-
have segregatedperfect
-
has segregatedperfect
-
am segregatingprogressive
-
are segregatingprogressive
-
is segregatingprogressive
-
have been segregatingperfect progressive
-
has been segregatingperfect progressive
Past
-
segregatedsimple
-
had segregatedperfect
-
was segregatingprogressive
-
were segregatingprogressive
-
had been segregatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of segregate
1400–50 in sense “segregated”; 1535–45 as transitive v.; late Middle English segregat < Latin sēgregātus (past participle of sēgregāre to part from the flock), equivalent to sē- se- + greg- (stem of grex flock) + -ātus -ate 1; see gregarious
Explanation
To separate people by race or religion is to segregate them. In general, the word segregate means to separate one type of thing from another. In the United States, the practice of segregating blacks from whites in public schools and public places was common in the South until the 1960s. Because of this, people don't even like to use the word segregate in its neutral sense. But you could rightly say that new bicycle lanes are designed to segregate bikes from auto traffic.
Vocabulary lists containing segregate
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Reading Lolita in Tehran," Vocabulary from the memoir
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Because They Marched
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The model was trained to segregate the “pure news” in each article from that which was old and stale and, therefore, predictable.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 4, 2026
His aim wasn’t to segregate black history from the national narrative but to force its inclusion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
You have to segregate a set of limbs, a section of the undulating trunk, or even a scarred piece of bark to describe who they are.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
Professors collaborated with the directors of the campus art museum and instructors in the social sciences and business departments, to demonstrate that knowledge is impossible to segregate or compartmentalize.
From Salon ● Mar. 16, 2024
And why should I restrict myself, segregate myself?
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
The factory accepts waste material which it then sorts and segregates.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2023
Having third-party services segregates these specific issues from the employer-employee relationship.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2021
The Douglas County Jail has three pods for men in custody, which segregates inmates by minimum, medium and maximum risk classifications.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 16, 2016
The conventional narrative of U.S. history routinely segregates the “Indian wars” as a subspecialization within the dubious category “the West.”
From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2014
Life breaks up this Neuter counterpoise, and progressively unlocks and segregates, and thus reveals and specialises the inherent attributes of Sex Phenomena of Duality characterise not Living Matter only, but Inorganic Matter too.
From Feminism and Sex-Extinction by Arabella Kenealy
Saar grew up in a partially segregated city and came of age in a society where Black women were expected to find practical work, not become artists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
"It brought a lot of people together in a very kind of segregated world that we're living in," said Zeileen Reardon, who spoke while watching the team play Morocco in a bar in Calgary.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Dementia has historically been a hidden disease in which affected individuals are sequestered at home or segregated in day programs or institutions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
But she refused to perform before segregated audiences in the United States and spent much of her life in France.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
Like Katherine Goble, however, they also figured a way to opt out of the segregated facilities.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
At this World Cup, authorities didn’t bother segregating them, including at the potentially fractious semifinal between ancient enemies England and Argentina.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
It was launched in the 1970s by the federal government as an alternative to public housing projects, which were criticized for segregating poor families in neighborhoods with low-quality schools and other substandard services.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2025
She feels mixed-gender cards rather than segregating the two codes will attract more interest.
From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2025
Department of Justice sued Georgia for unnecessarily segregating people with developmental disabilities and mental illness.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2024
“People aren’t even forcing us to sit apart, and we’re still segregating ourselves.”
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
