segregation

[ seg-ri-gey-shuhn ]
See synonyms for segregation on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the act or practice of segregating; a setting apart or separation of people or things from others or from the main body or group: gender segregation in some fundamentalist religions.

  2. the institutional separation of an ethnic, racial, religious, or other minority group from the dominant majority.

  1. the state or condition of being segregated, set apart, separated, or restricted to one group: Segregation on buses meant that the seats at the front were reserved for white passengers.the segregation of private clubs.

  2. something segregated, or set apart.

  3. Genetics. the separation of allelic genes into different gametes during meiosis.: Compare law of segregation.

Origin of segregation

1
First recorded in 1545–55; from Late Latin sēgregātiōn-, stem of sēgregātiō, from sēgregāt(us) “separated” (past participle of sēgregāre “to part from the flock”; see segregate) + -iō -ion

Other words from segregation

  • seg·re·ga·tion·al, adjective
  • an·ti·seg·re·ga·tion, noun, adjective
  • non·seg·re·ga·tion, noun
  • re·seg·re·ga·tion, noun
  • un·seg·re·ga·tion·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use segregation in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for segregation

segregation

/ (ˌsɛɡrɪˈɡeɪʃən) /


noun
  1. the act of segregating or state of being segregated

  2. sociol the practice or policy of creating separate facilities within the same society for the use of a minority group

  1. genetics the separation at meiosis of the two members of any pair of alleles into separate gametes: See also Mendel's laws

  2. metallurgy the process in which a component of an alloy or solid solution separates in small regions within the solid or on the solid's surface

Derived forms of segregation

  • segregational, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for segregation

segregation

The policy and practice of imposing the separation of races. In the United States, the policy of segregation denied African-Americans their civil rights and provided inferior facilities and services for them, most noticeably in public schools (see Brown versus Board of Education), housing, and industry. (See integration, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and separate but equal.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.