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• separatist
  separatist

  noun

  a person who separates, withdraws, or secedes, as from an established church.
• Separatist
  Separatist

  noun

  (sometimes not capital) a person who advocates the secession of a province, esp Quebec, from Canada

separatist

American  

[sep-er-uh-tist, -uh-rey-] / ˈsɛp ər ə tɪst, -əˌreɪ- /

noun

• separatists
  plural

1. a person who separates, withdraws, or secedes, as from an established church.

2. an advocate of separation, especially ecclesiastical or political separation.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or designating separatism or separatists.

   separatist forces;

   separatist tendencies.

separatist ¹ British  

/ ˈsɛpərətɪst, ˈsɛprə- /

noun

1. 1. a person who advocates or practises secession from an organization or group

   2. ( as modifier )

      a separatist movement

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Separatist ² British  

/ ˈsɛpərətɪst, ˈsɛprə- /

noun

1. (sometimes not capital) a person who advocates the secession of a province, esp Quebec, from Canada

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Separatism
  noun
• antiseparatist
  noun
• separatism
  noun
• separatistic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• separatists
  plural

Etymology

Origin of separatist

First recorded in 1600–10; separate (adjective) + -ist

Explanation

A separatist is someone who believes certain groups of people should live independently from the larger group. Often religious separatists form new denominations after they break off from a church. Separatists are typically members of a minority group that wishes to protect itself or its identity from the majority group. There are political separatist movements all around the world, including Catalan separatists in Spain, who believe that Catalonia should be an independent nation, and French-Canadian separatists in Quebec.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

separatist Separatist separatists

It has labelled the exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, a separatist.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

She faces a reelection battle in October and is currently trailing in polls to the leader of a Quebec separatist party.

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

The country is also mired in multiple security crises -- from jihadists, non-ideological "bandit" gangs, farmers and herders fighting over land, and a simmering separatist conflict.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Critics, including state officials, have accused her movement of amplifying narratives that benefit separatist groups – allegations she has consistently rejected.

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026

In 1775 the Mohawk Nation allied with the British against the separatist settlers.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

"Separatist groups should not think that a breeze has blown and try to take action," said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

From Barron's ● Mar. 5, 2026

Separatist fighters in the country's two English-speaking regions - the North-West and the South-West - took up arms in 2017 calling for the creation of a breakaway state called Ambazonia.

From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2026

They enlist Bo-Katan and Din Djarin's help in neutralizing a few repurposed Imperial and Separatist droids that have shrugged off their programming and pose a danger to its citizens.

From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2023

Separatist ambitions among ethnic Serbs sparked the devastating 1992-95 war in Bosnia, which killed more than 100,000 people, displaced millions and shattered the country for years to come.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 9, 2022

As for the other Croats, only Frank's Clerical party, which numbered five or six deputies, and did not hide its persistent sympathies with the House of Habsburg, kept up Separatist tendencies.

From The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2 by Henry Baerlein

When a judge dealt another blow to separatists in May, Smith appealed the ruling and called the referendum.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

While she is correct that the separatists who traveled on the Mayflower in 1620 eschewed the pejorative term Puritan, she errantly suggests that they called themselves Pilgrims.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

She says that among the men was Yurii Temerbek, a Ukrainian who had been a local traffic policeman and had joined the Russian-backed separatists.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

The nomadic Fulani and Tuareg communities have been particularly targeted, often accused of links to jihadists or separatists.

From Barron's ● May 19, 2026

With the approval of the Continental Congress, three armies were mustered to launch an offensive against the Seneca and any other Indigenous nation that opposed the separatists.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Related Words

• dissident
• protester
• rebel