separation

[sep-uh-rey-shuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR separation ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

Origin of separation

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

Related formsnon·sep·a·ra·tion, nounpre·sep·a·ra·tion, nounre·sep·a·ra·tion, noun

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

Related Words for separation

divorce, dissolution, partition, departure, estrangement, split, disengagement, segregation, rift, divorcement, division, severance, disunion, gap, break, disconnection, detachment, farewell, disjunction, rupture

Examples from the Web for separation

Contemporary Examples of separation

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
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
But does John accept Brenda the wife and Brenda the professional after two full years of separation?
Cameroonian Women Fighting Sexism With Tourism
Abena Agyeman-Fisher
November 7, 2014
Thanks again to the Founding Fathers for the separation of powers!
In North Carolina, GOP Overreach May Be More Unpopular Than Obama
Dean Obeidallah
November 3, 2014
The hero first enters a period known as separation, where he leaves his past and enters a new life of adventure.
The Walking Dead’s Luke Skywalker: Rick Grimes Is the Perfect Modern-Day Mythical Hero
Regina Lizik
October 28, 2014

Historical Examples of separation

But the British government objected to the separation and their union with Greece.
The Grand Old Man
Richard B. Cook
It was no separation—so long as like speech it was between them.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
There was none of the illusion of separation; he was always there, like Katie.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
This I did; and we met, again, after a separation of five-and-twenty years.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
In this manner are old shipmates often thrown together, after years of separation.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for separation

separation

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

Word Origin and History for separation

c.1400, from Old French separacion (Modern French séparation), from Latin separationem (nominative separatio) noun of action from past participle stem of separare (see separate (v.)). Specific sense of "sundering of a married couple" is attested from c.1600. Sense in photography is from 1922. Separation of powers first recorded 1788, in "Federalist" (Hamilton), from French séparée de la puissance (Montesquieu, 1748). Separation anxiety first attested 1943.