separate
Americanverb (used with object)
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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)
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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
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disunited or apart
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set apart from the main body or mass
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distinct, individual, or particular
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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
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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
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had separatedperfect
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was separatingprogressive
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were separatingprogressive
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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:
"Many deaths feared after strong earthquake wreaks havoc in southern Japan" says the paper in a separate headline, next to a birds-eye shot of a partially fallen bridge.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
A separate lawsuit was filed by California and a coalition of 13 other states in February.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Active listings in Las Vegas rose 3.4% in June as compared with a year ago, according to a separate report by real-estate platform Realtor.com.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
UN chief Antonio Guterres said he held "very constructive" separate meetings with rival Cypriot leaders on Tuesday, ahead of trilateral meetings to weigh the prospect of fresh negotiations nine years after the peace process collapsed.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
“Sorry. I forgot to explain that there’s a separate entrance to our apartment. We live upstairs, above the shop. Ready?”
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
NIRSpec separates infrared light into its component wavelengths, allowing scientists to determine how gas is moving, what it is made of, and how its properties vary across a region.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
“Like a Cat Loves a Bird” separates Spark’s character into 13 personae, each one highlighting an element of her writing that seems to color that part of her personality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
While discarded elements are through lines in Flod’s sculptural work, it’s the community impact that separates Pinky from the rest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
That distinction is what separates these trips from ordinary vacations.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 24, 2026
More quickly: The child who learns to read about his nonliterate ancestors necessarily separates himself from their way of life.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
"There is also concern about families being separated."
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
There are lots of parallels between these two stories: family members getting separated from loved ones, then turning to the courts, specifically to habeas corpus petitions, to claim that the separation is unlawful.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Police separated the two groups, each made up of hundreds of protesters.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
This allowed them to estimate how different ape groups were related and when their evolutionary lineages separated.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
One of the shadows ahead of them separated from the wall and began gliding toward them.
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Roberts, who has also talked about separating the visit from politics, kept his review brief.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Centrifuges are machines that are used to spin uranium gas, separating isotopes to enrich the material for civilian nuclear energy or potential weapons production.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
The lesson is that hype and quality are not the same thing, and public markets have a way of separating them.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
They showed fewer signs of separating or becoming unusually thick.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026
Each of her footsteps made a sound like Velcro strips separating.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
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.
