separate

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

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR separate ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

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

Related formssep·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

Synonyms for separate

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR separate ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

Antonyms for separate

1–3. unite, connect.

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

Related Words for separate

independent, sovereign, free, isolated, different, distinct, single, diverse, various, particular, autonomous, unique, disconnect, divide, divorce, break, split, detach, sever, insulate

Examples from the Web for separate

Contemporary Examples of 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
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
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
“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
“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

Historical Examples of separate

I have left a separate fund in a savings bank for her to draw upon.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
Supposing him ready to separate from her, could she be detached from him?
Malbone
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
He wanted to separate himself from the others, just as Allister always did.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
Separate the eggs, beat the yolks, and add them to the mixture.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Separate the egg, beat the yolk, and mix it with the potato.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 2
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

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

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.

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]