separate
Americanverb (used with object)
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separates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
separated,
past participle, past
-
separating
present participle
-
to keep apart or divide, as by an intervening barrier or space.
to separate two fields by a fence.
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to put, bring, or force apart; part.
to separate two fighting boys.
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to set apart; disconnect; dissociate.
to separate church and state.
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to remove or sever from association, service, etc., especially legally or formally.
He was separated from the army right after V-E Day.
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to sort, part, divide, or disperse (an assemblage, mass, compound, etc.), as into individual units, components, or elements.
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to take by parting or dividing; extract (usually followed by from orout ).
to separate metal from ore.
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Mathematics. to write (the variables of a differential equation) in a form in which the differentials of the independent and dependent variables are, respectively, functions of these variables alone.
We can separate the variables to solve the equation.
verb (used without object)
-
separates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
separated,
past participle, past
-
separating
present participle
-
to part company; withdraw from personal association (often followed byfrom ).
to separate from a church.
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(of a married pair) to stop living together but without getting a divorce.
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to draw or come apart; become divided, disconnected, or detached.
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to become parted from a mass or compound.
Cream separates from milk.
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to take or go in different directions.
We have to separate at the crossroad.
adjective
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detached, disconnected, or disjoined.
- Synonyms:
- discrete, unattached
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unconnected; distinct; unique.
two separate questions.
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being or standing apart; distant or dispersed.
two separate houses;
The desert has widely separate oases.
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existing or maintained independently.
separate organizations.
- Synonyms:
- independent
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individual or particular.
each separate item.
-
not shared; individual or private.
separate checks;
separate rooms.
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Sometimes Separate noting or relating to a church or other organization no longer associated with the original or parent organization.
noun
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Usually separates women's outer garments that may be worn in combination with a variety of others to make different ensembles, as matching and contrasting blouses, skirts, and sweaters.
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a bibliographical unit, as an article, chapter, or other portion of a larger work, printed from the same type but issued separately, sometimes with additional pages.
verb
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(tr) to act as a barrier between
a range of mountains separates the two countries
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to put or force or be put or forced apart
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to part or be parted from a mass or group
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(tr) to discriminate between
to separate the men from the boys
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to divide or be divided into component parts; sort or be sorted
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to sever or be severed
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(intr) (of a married couple) to cease living together by mutual agreement or after obtaining a decree of judicial separation
adjective
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existing or considered independently
a separate problem
-
disunited or apart
-
set apart from the main body or mass
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distinct, individual, or particular
-
solitary or withdrawn
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(sometimes capital) designating or relating to a Church or similar institution that has ceased to have associations with an original parent organization
Synonym Usage
Separate, divide imply a putting apart or keeping apart of things from each other. To separate is to remove from each other things previously associated: to separate a mother from her children. To divide is to split or break up carefully according to measurement, rule, or plan: to divide a cake into equal parts.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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separatenessnoun
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unseparatenessnoun
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reseparateverb
-
preseparateverb (used with object)
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nonseparatingadjective
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unseparateadjective
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unseparatedadjective
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unseparatingadjective
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well-separatedadjective
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separatelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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separatesimple
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separatessimple
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have separatedperfect
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has separatedperfect
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am separatingprogressive
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are separatingprogressive
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is separatingprogressive
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have been separatingperfect progressive
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has been separatingperfect progressive
Past
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separatedsimple
-
had separatedperfect
-
was separatingprogressive
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were separatingprogressive
-
had been separatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of separate
First recorded in 1400–50; from late Middle English (noun and adjective), from Latin sēparātus, past participle of sēparāre, equivalent to sē- se- + parāre “to furnish, produce, obtain”; see prepare
Explanation
Things that are separate are kept apart from other things. A married couple heading for divorce might eat breakfast at separate tables. You can use the adjective separate to describe something that is thought of as different or not related to other things. The adjective is from the Latin prefix se- "apart" plus parare "to prepare." Separate is also used as a verb, pronounced "SEP-uh-rate." Separate is one of the most commonly misspelled words, so beware of the erroneous spelling, seperate.
Vocabulary lists containing separate
"The Civil Rights Movement"
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"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury
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Remote Learning: Synonyms for "Far"
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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:
In evidence presented to the inquiry, he said he had submitted three separate formal situation, background, assessment and recommendations, known as SBARs, relating to the QEUH.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Soon after opening a separate office in his native northern England he gave an interview there to Elizabeth Day, a writer, whose podcast "How to Fail" invites celebrities to reflect on mistakes they have made.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Quiñones’ unit led a separate effort to find additional cases by reviewing whether people who’d recently become citizens had voted before they were naturalized, then lied about it in naturalization interviews.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
Understanding how these separate pathways interact could also help researchers design more effective combinations of obesity medicines in the future.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
Even with Mom and Dad in a separate bedroom, I usually sleep with a pillow pressed against my ears.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
What separates him is how he knits attacks together.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
MarketWatch: What separates a bold investment from a reckless one?
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
NIRSpec separates infrared light into its component wavelengths, allowing scientists to determine how gas is moving, what it is made of, and how its properties vary across a region.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
What separates Dean from the U.K. pop-soul tradition she emerged from, though, is the simple fact that she has hits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
In the hallway, it is easy to forget about Al and Molly’s revenge and Peter’s suspicious calm, and easy to pretend that what separates us as friends does not exist.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
Although the friends were separated on this leg, having each taken the route at their own pace, they reunite at Pine Mountain General Store in Pine Mountain Club.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Many have wondered what will happen when families are separated: Who will care for the U.S.-born, citizen children who may be left behind?
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
By the end of Act 2, when the separated spouses were finally brought together only to face death, their farewell duet was incandescent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Cunningham hit the ground hard but immediately got up to confront Carrington before team-mates separated them.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
“I’m Danny. I got separated from my school tour.”
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
That means migrants cannot freely cross the 9 miles of water separating them from continental Europe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
In the second quarter, the company worked to make its AI lending models better at separating low-risk customers from high-risk customers, according to CEO Paul Gu.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
Hearn has maintained that he merely touched material that was already separating from the surface and did not cause any damage.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
Roberts, who has also talked about separating the visit from politics, kept his review brief.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
I continued separating and smoothing pieces of her pixie haircut.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
Definitions 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.
