separate

[ verb sep-uh-reyt; adjective, noun sep-er-it ]

/ verb ˈsɛp əˌreɪt; adjective, noun ˈsɛp ər ɪt /

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verb (used with object), sep·a·rat·ed, sep·a·rat·ing.

to keep apart or divide, as by an intervening barrier or space: to separate two fields by a fence.

to put, bring, or force apart; part: to separate two fighting boys.

to set apart; disconnect; dissociate: to separate church and state.

to remove or sever from association, service, etc., especially legally or formally: He was separated from the army right after V-E Day.

to sort, part, divide, or disperse (an assemblage, mass, compound, etc.), as into individual units, components, or elements.

to take by parting or dividing; extract (usually followed by from or out): to separate metal from ore.

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.Compare separation of variables.

verb (used without object), sep·a·rat·ed, sep·a·rat·ing.

to part company; withdraw from personal association (often followed by from): to separate from a church.

(of a married pair) to stop living together but without getting a divorce.

to draw or come apart; become divided, disconnected, or detached.

to become parted from a mass or compound: Cream separates from milk.

to take or go in different directions: We have to separate at the crossroad.

adjective

detached, disconnected, or disjoined.

unconnected; distinct; unique: two separate questions.

being or standing apart; distant or dispersed: two separate houses; The desert has widely separate oases.

existing or maintained independently: separate organizations.

individual or particular: each separate item.

not shared; individual or private: separate checks; separate rooms.

(sometimes initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a church or other organization no longer associated with the original or parent organization.

noun

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.

offprint(def 1).

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.

Nearby words

sepa, sepal, sepaline, sepaloid, separable, separate, separate but equal, separate school, separate the men from the boys, separate the sheep from the goats, separate wheat from chaff

Origin of separate

1400–50; late Middle English (noun and adj.) < Latin sēparātus (past participle of sēparāre), equivalent to sē- se- + par(āre) to furnish, produce, obtain, prepare + -ātus -ate¹

SYNONYMS FOR separate

1, 2 sever, sunder, split. 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.

3 disjoin, disengage.

13 unattached, severed, discrete.

15 secluded, isolated.

16 independent.

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ANTONYMS FOR separate

1–3 unite, connect.

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Related forms

sep·a·rate·ly, adverbsep·a·rate·ness, nounnon·sep·a·rat·ing, adjectivepre·sep·a·rate, verb (used with object), pre·sep·a·rat·ed, pre·sep·a·rat·ing.

re·sep·a·rate, verb, re·sep·a·rat·ed, re·sep·a·rat·ing.un·sep·a·rate, adjectiveun·sep·a·rate·ly, adverbun·sep·a·rate·ness, nounun·sep·a·rat·ed, adjectiveun·sep·a·rat·ing, adjectivewell-sep·a·rat·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for separate

There is, however, a separate wing of AQAP designed to inspire their followers to conduct attacks against the West.
U.S. Spies See Al Qaeda Fingerprints on Paris Massacre|Shane Harris, Nancy A. Youssef|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
My younger, straighter-than-an-arrow son was stopped and arrested in two separate jurisdictions a few years ago.
What Would Happen if I Got in White Cop’s Face?|Goldie Taylor|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We separate the search for justice from the search for truth at our peril.
Bill de Blasio’s Tea Party Problem|Will Cain|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“I never felt that culture and the arts were separate from politics,” he says.
DJ Spooky Wants You To Question Everything You Know About Music, Technology, and Philosophy|Oliver Jones|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST

“She was hot-headed, had her own way of doing things,” Gill said—and so, he left to form a separate militia group.
Open-Carry Militia Mom ‘Murders’ Family|Brandy Zadrozny|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And he asked who would volunteer to follow two leaders in separate lines.
The Later Cave-Men|Katharine Elizabeth Dopp
Practically every field is treated as a separate farm in itself.
The Danes in Lancashire and Yorkshire|S. W. Partington
In the median band of both wings the spots do not flow together, but are separate and moderately heavy.
The Butterfly Book|William Jacob Holland
The system is dominated, in its separate units, and as a whole, by the great principle of the conservation of energy.
The Energy System of Matter|James Weir
Hold hands, palms upward, well down in front, fingers and thumbs well separated and slightly curved; separate hands slightly.
Indian Scout Talks|Charles A. Eastman

British Dictionary definitions for separate

separate

verb (ˈsɛpəˌreɪt)

(tr) to act as a barrier betweena range of mountains separates the two countries

to put or force or be put or forced apart

to part or be parted from a mass or group

(tr) to discriminate betweento separate the men from the boys

to divide or be divided into component parts; sort or be sorted

to sever or be severed

(intr) (of a married couple) to cease living together by mutual agreement or after obtaining a decree of judicial separation

adjective (ˈsɛprɪt, ˈsɛpərɪt)

existing or considered independentlya separate problem

disunited or apart

set apart from the main body or mass

distinct, individual, or particular

solitary or withdrawn

(sometimes capital) designating or relating to a Church or similar institution that has ceased to have associations with an original parent organization

Derived Formsseparately, adverbseparateness, noun

Word Origin for separate

C15: from Latin sēparāre, from sē- apart + parāre to obtain

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for separate (1 of 2)

separate

late 14c., from Latin separatus, past participle of separare "to pull apart," from se- "apart" (see secret) + parare "make ready, prepare" (see pare). Sever (q.v.) is a doublet, via French. Related: Separated; separating.

Word Origin and History for separate (1 of 2)

separate

adj.

"detached, kept apart," c.1600, from separate (v.) or from Latin separatus. Separate but equal in reference to U.S. segregation policies on railroads is attested from 1888. Separate development, official name of apartheid in South Africa, is from 1955. Related: Separately (1550s); separateness.

Frequently the colored coach is little better than a cattle car. Generally one half the smoking car is reserved for the colored car. Often only a cloth curtain or partition run half way up separates this so-called colored car from the smoke, obscene language, and foul air of the smokers' half of the car. All classes and conditions of colored humanity, from the most cultured and refined to the most degraded and filthy, without regard to sex, good breeding or ability to pay for better accommodation, are crowded into this separate, but equal (?) half car. [Rev. Norman B. Wood, "The White Side of a Black Subject," 1897]

separate

verb (used with object), sep·a·rat·ed, sep·a·rat·ing.

verb (used without object), sep·a·rat·ed, sep·a·rat·ing.

adjective

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of separate

Examples from the Web for separate

British Dictionary definitions for separate

separate

verb (ˈsɛpəˌreɪt)

adjective (ˈsɛprɪt, ˈsɛpərɪt)

Word Origin for separate

Word Origin and History for separate (1 of 2)

separate

Word Origin and History for separate (1 of 2)

separate