segregation

American  

[seg-ri-gey-shuhn] / ˌsɛg rɪˈgeɪ ʃən /

noun

• segregations
  plural

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.

3. 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.

4. something segregated, or set apart.

5. Genetics. the separation of allelic genes into different gametes during meiosis.

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segregation British  

/ 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

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

4. 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

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segregation Cultural  

1. 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.)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antisegregation
  noun
• nonsegregation
  noun
• resegregation
  noun
• segregational
  adjective
• unsegregational
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• segregations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of segregation

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

Explanation

Segregation is a system that keeps different groups separate from each other, either through physical dividers or using social pressures and laws. The Latin root literally means “separated from the flock,” and splitting a big flock of sheep into smaller groups is segregation. For many decades in the United States, “separate but equal” was the phrase used to describe the unjust racial segregation of black people and white people. There are harmless types of segregation as well, like "the segregation of dog food and human food in your cupboards."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

segregation segregations

Robinson’s courage—along with his hitting, fielding and baserunning—helped set the stage for the end of legally sanctioned segregation in American society and the beginning of integration.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

After all, slavery and segregation were legal for much of American history, and women were not protected from discrimination by the promise of “equal protection” in the 14th Amendment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

The elections board meets in a building near the historic site where four A&T students launched the sit-in movement to protest racial segregation in 1960.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026

Those interactions lead to a process called "mass segregation."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026

Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Durham, shut down by students protesting Jim Crow segregation on February 8, 1960.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

The social segregations of “District 9” become filters when we leave the theater that allow us to see our own world in sharper focus.

From New York Times ● Apr. 29, 2016

Near the ores there are likely to be granitic rocks, which, like the ores, seem to be segregations from the norite magma.

From The Economic Aspect of Geology by C. K. (Charles Kenneth) Leith

Certain minerals, such as magnetite, ilmenite, spinel, corundum, etc., are often found as primary segregations within the mass of igneous rock.

From The Economic Aspect of Geology by C. K. (Charles Kenneth) Leith

Through Mendelian combinations and segregations it would by cross-breeding be spread and gradually introduced into more and more strains of the general population.

From Being Well-Born An Introduction to Eugenics by Michael F. Guyer

These are so accurately correlated with altitude and exposure, and are so imperceptibly graded, that no specific segregations among them have yet been successfully established.

From The Genus Pinus by George Russell Shaw

Related Words

• apartheid
• discrimination
• isolation
• partition