separation

[ sep-uh-rey-shuhn ]

/ ˌsɛp əˈreɪ ʃən /

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Definition of separation

noun

an act or instance of separating or the state of being separated.

a place, line, or point of parting.

a gap, hole, rent, or the like.

something that separates or divides.

Law.

cessation of conjugal cohabitation, as by mutual consent.
judicial separation.

Aerospace. the time or act of releasing a burned-out stage of a rocket or missile from the remainder.

Photography. separation negative.

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Origin of separation

1375–1425; late Middle English <Latin sēparātiōn- (stem of sēparātiō), equivalent to sēparāt(us) separate + -iōn--ion

OTHER WORDS FROM separation

non·sep·a·ra·tion, nounpre·sep·a·ra·tion, nounre·sep·a·ra·tion, noun

Words nearby separation

separate school, separate the men from the boys, separate the sheep from the goats, separate wheat from chaff, separating funnel, separation, separation anxiety, separation center, separationist, separation negative, separation of church and state

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use separation in a sentence

Instead, it spoke to the universe’s separation into kingdoms of independent sizes, a perspective that guides many corners of physics today.
How Mathematical ‘Hocus-Pocus’ Saved Particle Physics|Charlie Wood|September 17, 2020|Quanta Magazine
Harry ranked dead last in separation last season among all qualifying NFL WRs.
We Knew A Football Team Would Win In Week 1. But Maybe Not ‘Football Team.’|Sara Ziegler (sara.ziegler@fivethirtyeight.com)|September 14, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
In addition to the labeling requirements, there is the issue of advertisers being virtually unable to verify whether creative separation was maintained for their streaming ads.
WTF is creative separation?|Tim Peterson|September 8, 2020|Digiday
One possible effect of the changes could be an even wider separation between the biggest and smallest companies in the mobile gaming ecosystem, which is the largest category of paid apps.
‘Speeding up market consolidation’: Apple’s privacy changes expected to spark wave of gaming and ad tech M&A|Lara O'Reilly|September 3, 2020|Digiday

In her separation from Bezos, Scott retained 25% of the couple’s stock in Amazon, or about a 4% stake in the entire company.
MacKenzie Scott is now the wealthiest woman in the world|ehinchliffe|September 2, 2020|Fortune
He advocates a secular regime with a total separation of religion form the government.
Behind Bars for the Holidays: 11 Political Prisoners We Want to See Free In 2015|Movements.Org|December 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Enter Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which threatened to sue.
In Florida, ’Tis The Season for Satan|Jay Michaelson|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But the picture is torn in half by the geographic separation of the friezes.
Britain Has Lost Its Marbles: Elgin Loan Will Appease Putin|Geoffrey Robertson|December 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Even in the painful separation of child and parent, there was humour.
The Rancid Ballad of Johnny Rotten: His Memoir Seethes With Anger—And Charm|Legs McNeil|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But the second thing is the way this city has changed in recent years, the intensification of the separation.
Mass Murder in the Holy City|Michael Tomasky|November 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
These differences of interests will lead to disputes, ill blood, and finally to separation.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846|Various
Wharton left Vienna, the morning after his separation from Louis in the garden of the chateau.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
Punch went out and wept bitterly with Judy, into whose fair head he had driven some ideas of the meaning of separation.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
The clear, straw-colored fluid which is left after separation of the coagulum is called blood-serum.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
But also it was an inarticulate yearning to find that state of safety where he and she dwelt secure from separation—in the 'sea.'
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood

British Dictionary definitions for separation

separation

/ (ˌsɛpəˈreɪʃən) /

noun

the act of separating or state of being separated

the place or line where a separation is made

a gap that separates

family law the cessation of cohabitation between a man and wife, either by mutual agreement or under a decree of a courtCompare judicial separation, divorce

the act of jettisoning a burnt-out stage of a multistage rocket
the instant at which such a stage is jettisoned

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

separation

Definition of separation

Origin of separation

OTHER WORDS FROM separation

Words nearby separation

Words related to separation

How to use separation in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for separation