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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-ray-] / 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

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Etymology

Origin of separatist

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

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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

Smith herself opposed the separatist push but said the public will for a vote was undeniable.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

One of the separatist leaders, Jeffrey Rath, struck a defiant tone, however, vowing that "our movement isn't stopping and we're continuing to move forward".

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

Meanwhile, the Parti Québécois won enough seats in last week’s provincial election to form a separatist minority government.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Farmers and herders clash over land in the centre of the country while a simmering separatist movement festers in the southeast.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

The separatist governments of the New York and Pennsylvania colonies offered rangers for the project.

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

Separatist leaders have also reached out to U.S. officials for support.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

"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

Separatist organisation Omnium calculates that it could be around 1,500, most of them involved in protests.

From Reuters ● Nov. 7, 2023

At Zoar in Ohio was the Separatist community led by Joseph Baumeler.

From Union and Democracy by Allen Johnson

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

Malian opposition figures and military personnel have been detained or abducted following large-scale attacks by jihadists and separatists on junta positions, security, legal and family sources told AFP on Wednesday.

From Barron's ● May 6, 2026

Neutrality was the most the separatists could hope for, given their history of attacking the Cherokee.

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

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Related Words

• dissident
• protester
• rebel

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