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

She and the other interned women were categorised and segregated.

Read more on BBC

The civil rights leader was born in 1941 in segregated Greenville, S.C., and rose to prominence alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He was allowed just one hour a day for exercise, by himself in the wing's segregated courtyard.

Read more on BBC

In the 1960s, the median black girl living in a segregated black neighborhood received a name that was only twice as common among black girls as among white girls.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Supreme Court takes up segregated political maps, a temporary remedy that has lingered on.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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