separate
Americanverb (used with object)
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separates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
separated,
past participle, past
-
separating
present participle
-
to keep apart or divide, as by an intervening barrier or space.
to separate two fields by a fence.
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to put, bring, or force apart; part.
to separate two fighting boys.
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to set apart; disconnect; dissociate.
to separate church and state.
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to remove or sever from association, service, etc., especially legally or formally.
He was separated from the army right after V-E Day.
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to sort, part, divide, or disperse (an assemblage, mass, compound, etc.), as into individual units, components, or elements.
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to take by parting or dividing; extract (usually followed by from orout ).
to separate metal from ore.
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Mathematics. to write (the variables of a differential equation) in a form in which the differentials of the independent and dependent variables are, respectively, functions of these variables alone.
We can separate the variables to solve the equation.
verb (used without object)
-
separates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
separated,
past participle, past
-
separating
present participle
-
to part company; withdraw from personal association (often followed byfrom ).
to separate from a church.
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(of a married pair) to stop living together but without getting a divorce.
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to draw or come apart; become divided, disconnected, or detached.
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to become parted from a mass or compound.
Cream separates from milk.
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to take or go in different directions.
We have to separate at the crossroad.
adjective
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detached, disconnected, or disjoined.
- Synonyms:
- discrete, unattached
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unconnected; distinct; unique.
two separate questions.
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being or standing apart; distant or dispersed.
two separate houses;
The desert has widely separate oases.
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existing or maintained independently.
separate organizations.
- Synonyms:
- independent
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individual or particular.
each separate item.
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not shared; individual or private.
separate checks;
separate rooms.
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Sometimes Separate noting or relating to a church or other organization no longer associated with the original or parent organization.
noun
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Usually separates women's outer garments that may be worn in combination with a variety of others to make different ensembles, as matching and contrasting blouses, skirts, and sweaters.
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a bibliographical unit, as an article, chapter, or other portion of a larger work, printed from the same type but issued separately, sometimes with additional pages.
verb
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(tr) to act as a barrier between
a range of mountains separates the two countries
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to put or force or be put or forced apart
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to part or be parted from a mass or group
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(tr) to discriminate between
to separate the men from the boys
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to divide or be divided into component parts; sort or be sorted
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to sever or be severed
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(intr) (of a married couple) to cease living together by mutual agreement or after obtaining a decree of judicial separation
adjective
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existing or considered independently
a separate problem
-
disunited or apart
-
set apart from the main body or mass
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distinct, individual, or particular
-
solitary or withdrawn
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(sometimes capital) designating or relating to a Church or similar institution that has ceased to have associations with an original parent organization
Synonym Usage
Separate, divide imply a putting apart or keeping apart of things from each other. To separate is to remove from each other things previously associated: to separate a mother from her children. To divide is to split or break up carefully according to measurement, rule, or plan: to divide a cake into equal parts.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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separatenessnoun
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unseparatenessnoun
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reseparateverb
-
preseparateverb (used with object)
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nonseparatingadjective
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unseparateadjective
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unseparatedadjective
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unseparatingadjective
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well-separatedadjective
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separatelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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separatesimple
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separatessimple
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have separatedperfect
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has separatedperfect
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am separatingprogressive
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are separatingprogressive
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is separatingprogressive
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have been separatingperfect progressive
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has been separatingperfect progressive
Past
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separatedsimple
-
had separatedperfect
-
was separatingprogressive
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were separatingprogressive
-
had been separatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of separate
First recorded in 1400–50; from late Middle English (noun and adjective), from Latin sēparātus, past participle of sēparāre, equivalent to sē- se- + parāre “to furnish, produce, obtain”; see prepare
Explanation
Things that are separate are kept apart from other things. A married couple heading for divorce might eat breakfast at separate tables. You can use the adjective separate to describe something that is thought of as different or not related to other things. The adjective is from the Latin prefix se- "apart" plus parare "to prepare." Separate is also used as a verb, pronounced "SEP-uh-rate." Separate is one of the most commonly misspelled words, so beware of the erroneous spelling, seperate.
Vocabulary lists containing separate
"The Civil Rights Movement"
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"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury
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Remote Learning: Synonyms for "Far"
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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.
See Examples For:
Certification costs could separate Chinese companies that remain anonymous suppliers from those able to build recognizable brands.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
Biologists broadly separate cellular life into two categories.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
Cookie's mother, an XL Bully called Rogue, was inside the property and was "in season" meaning she had been kept separate from the other dogs in the house.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
“The Administration’s push to develop separate vaccinations for all three diseases ... ultimately will increase vaccination rates for all three diseases.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
For though they would be going in separate directions, almost certain never to meet again, they both felt a spark of warmth at the thought of home.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
"It almost separates the people who have created music properly from the people just using AI," says guitarist Winn, who plays in the North East band Swindled.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
MarketWatch: What separates people who want to be rich from those who actually become rich?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
A spectrum separates light into its component wavelengths, allowing astronomers to investigate the chemistry and motion of distant objects.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
What separates Dean from the U.K. pop-soul tradition she emerged from, though, is the simple fact that she has hits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The regulator analyzes the air with spectroscopy, then separates the gasses by supercooling them.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Many have wondered what will happen when families are separated: Who will care for the U.S.-born, citizen children who may be left behind?
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
As a boy, I was the only kid I knew whose parents were separated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The child had lived with his grandparents since he was two years old after his parents had separated, he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
By 01:00 BST, police had separated the protesters into two groups and slowly pushed them to each end of the road.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
They stood for what seemed like a long time, exchanging words, separated by the screen.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
As transistor components approach atomic dimensions, however, the interfaces separating different materials become increasingly important.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
Hearn has maintained that he merely touched material that was already separating from the surface and did not cause any damage.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
At Lakehouse, the interns spent two hours on “Mission KPMG,” a scavenger hunt with eight activities, including separating AI-generated fact from fiction, as well as matching the firm’s AI tools to the best-use case.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Roberts, who has also talked about separating the visit from politics, kept his review brief.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
He held a baton in his right hand, and with a flick of it to the left or right he was separating the line.
From "Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz
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.
