segregate

[seg-ri-geyt, seg-ri-git, -geyt]

verb (used with object)

segregated, segregating 

1. 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

2. 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)

segregated, segregating 

1. to separate, withdraw, or go apart; separate from the main body and collect in one place; become segregated.

2. to practice, require, or enforce segregation, especially racial segregation.

3. Genetics.,  (of allelic genes) to separate during meiosis.

noun

1. a segregated thing, person, or group.

segregate

/ ˈsɛɡrɪɡəbəl, ˈsɛɡrɪˌɡeɪt /

verb

1. to set or be set apart from others or from the main group

2. (tr) to impose segregation on (a racial or minority group)

3. genetics metallurgy to undergo or cause to undergo segregation

Other Word Forms

• segregable adjective
• segregative adjective
• nonsegregable adjective
• nonsegregative adjective
• resegregate verb
• unsegregable adjective
• unsegregating adjective
• unsegregative adjective
• segregator noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of segregate¹

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; gregarious

Word History and Origins

Origin of segregate¹

C16: from Latin sēgregāre, from sē- apart + grex a flock

Example Sentences

The neighborhoods that were bulldozed in the name of “urban renewal” were also segregated.

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“But,” she added, “I’m very fearful that we are headed towards a less inclusive, less diverse and more segregated public school setting.”

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He spent six years in segregated housing, essentially isolation, after Baca said her client was wrongly labeled as a Mexican Mafia associate.

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For decades, these newly immigrated workers would be segregated into the neighborhoods surrounding the smokestack, he added, leading to the growth of a large multigenerational Mexican community.

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As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “Eleven o’clock on Sunday morning…is the most segregated hour in America.”

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• disconnect 
• divide 
• insulate 
• isolate 
• sequester 
• single out