separate

American  

[sep-uh-reyt, sep-er-it] / ˈsɛp əˌreɪt, ˈsɛp ər ɪt /

verb (used with object)

• separates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• separated,
  past participle,  past
• separating
  present participle

1. to keep apart or divide, as by an intervening barrier or space.

   to separate two fields by a fence.

   Synonyms:

   split, sunder, sever

   Antonyms:

   connect, unite

2. to put, bring, or force apart; part.

   to separate two fighting boys.

   Synonyms:

   split, sunder, sever

   Antonyms:

   connect, unite

3. to set apart; disconnect; dissociate.

   to separate church and state.

   Synonyms:

   disengage, disjoin

   Antonyms:

   connect, unite

4. to remove or sever from association, service, etc., especially legally or formally.

   He was separated from the army right after V-E Day.

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

6. to take by parting or dividing; extract (usually followed by from orout ).

   to separate metal from ore.

7. 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.

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verb (used without object)

• separates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• separated,
  past participle,  past
• separating
  present participle

1. to part company; withdraw from personal association (often followed byfrom ).

   to separate from a church.

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

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

4. to become parted from a mass or compound.

   Cream separates from milk.

5. to take or go in different directions.

   We have to separate at the crossroad.

adjective

1. detached, disconnected, or disjoined.

   Synonyms:

   discrete, unattached

2. unconnected; distinct; unique.

   two separate questions.

3. being or standing apart; distant or dispersed.

   two separate houses;

   The desert has widely separate oases.

   Synonyms:

   isolated, secluded

4. existing or maintained independently.

   separate organizations.

   Synonyms:

   independent

5. individual or particular.

   each separate item.

6. not shared; individual or private.

   separate checks;

   separate rooms.

7. Sometimes Separate noting or relating to a church or other organization no longer associated with the original or parent organization.

noun

1. 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.

2. offprint.

3. 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.

separate British  

verb

1. (tr) to act as a barrier between

   a range of mountains separates the two countries

2. to put or force or be put or forced apart

3. to part or be parted from a mass or group

4. (tr) to discriminate between

   to separate the men from the boys

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

6. to sever or be severed

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

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adjective

1. existing or considered independently

   a separate problem

2. disunited or apart

3. set apart from the main body or mass

4. distinct, individual, or particular

5. solitary or withdrawn

6. (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

• separateness
  noun
• unseparateness
  noun
• reseparate
  verb
• preseparate
  verb (used with object)
• nonseparating
  adjective
• unseparate
  adjective
• unseparated
  adjective
• unseparating
  adjective
• well-separated
  adjective
• separately
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• separating
  present
• separated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• separate
  simple
• separates
  simple
• have separated
  perfect
• has separated
  perfect
• am separating
  progressive
• are separating
  progressive
• is separating
  progressive
• have been separating
  perfect progressive
• has been separating
  perfect progressive

Past

• separated
  simple
• had separated
  perfect
• was separating
  progressive
• were separating
  progressive
• had been separating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will separate
  simple
• will have separated
  perfect
• will be separating
  progressive
• will have been separating
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

separate separates separated separating

Segura said that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth and that the former couple had been recording separate episodes since they split earlier this year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

If temperatures reach 36C or higher, 2026 will become the first year on record to register four separate days at or above that threshold.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

It follows Pakistan’s high-profile mediation role in the U.S.-Iran conflict and a separate Saudi-Pakistani defense pact signed last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

The data look at the District of Columbia alone, separate from the larger metro area that includes parts of Maryland and Virginia.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

And that’s when we have a hotel suite with at least one separate bedroom.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

MarketWatch: What separates people who want to be rich from those who actually become rich?

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026

What separates him is how he knits attacks together.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 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

McKinsey appointed Andrew Pickersgill as its new board chair, a move that separates the chair and global managing partner role at the firm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

Caleb helps me sit up and separates the hems of his two shirts, pulling the long-sleeved one over his head and offering it to me.

From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth

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

By the end of Act 2, when the separated spouses were finally brought together only to face death, their farewell duet was incandescent.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Cunningham hit the ground hard but immediately got up to confront Carrington before team-mates separated them.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

The wearable sensors also showed that the crew gradually separated into smaller subgroups as the mission continued.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

The left hemisphere and the right hemisphere are separated on top by a deep crack—the interhemispheric fissure—but joined in the middle of the brain by a thick mat of nerves—the corpus callosum.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

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

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

They showed fewer signs of separating or becoming unusually thick.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026

At once they came, waves of them, one after another, and they labored separating and dividing, until what had been a confused mass lay all ordered, every seed with its kind.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

Related Words

• autonomous
• different
• distinct
• diverse
• free
• independent
• particular
• single
• unique
• various