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.
the institutional separation of an ethnic, racial, religious, or other minority group from the dominant majority.
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.
something segregated, or set apart.
Genetics. the separation of allelic genes into different gametes during meiosis.Compare law of segregation.
Origin of segregation
1545–55; < Late Latinsēgregātiōn- (stem of sēgregātiō), equivalent to sēgregāt(us) (see segregate) + -iōn--ion
Related formsseg·re·ga·tion·al, adjectivean·ti·seg·re·ga·tion, noun, adjectivenon·seg·re·ga·tion, nounre·seg·re·ga·tion, nounun·seg·re·ga·tion·al, adjective
1550s, "act of segregating," from Late Latin segregationem (nominative segregatio), noun of action from past participle stem of segregare (see segregate). Meaning "state of being segregated" is from 1660s. Specific U.S. sense of "enforced separation of races" is attested from 1883.
Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, or our welfare or our security, but rather to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved nation. The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue. And should we defeat every enemy, and should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation. [Lyndon Johnson, speech introducing Voting Rights Act, March 15, 1965]
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 (seeBrown versus Board of Education), housing, and industry. (Seeintegration, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, andseparate but equal.)
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