segregate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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
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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)
-
to separate, withdraw, or go apart; separate from the main body and collect in one place; become segregated.
-
to practice, require, or enforce segregation, especially racial segregation.
-
Genetics. (of allelic genes) to separate during meiosis.
noun
verb
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to set or be set apart from others or from the main group
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(tr) to impose segregation on (a racial or minority group)
-
genetics metallurgy to undergo or cause to undergo segregation
Other Word Forms
- nonsegregable adjective
- nonsegregative adjective
- resegregate verb
- segregable adjective
- segregative adjective
- segregator noun
- unsegregable adjective
- unsegregating adjective
- unsegregative adjective
Etymology
Origin of segregate
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
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.
His aim wasn’t to segregate black history from the national narrative but to force its inclusion.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026
You have to segregate a set of limbs, a section of the undulating trunk, or even a scarred piece of bark to describe who they are.
From Seattle Times • May 24, 2024
"Do they compete, is one dominant over the other, how might they partition resources, and do they mix or spatially segregate within the winter range? Lots of interesting questions to pursue!"
From Science Daily • May 13, 2024
Professors collaborated with the directors of the campus art museum and instructors in the social sciences and business departments, to demonstrate that knowledge is impossible to segregate or compartmentalize.
From Salon • Mar. 16, 2024
They weren’t very subtle with their attempts to segregate us or at making a safe space for people of color, but the truth was, I appreciated the sisterhood we’d formed.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
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.
