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separative

American  
[sep-er-uh-tiv, -uh-ray-] / ˈsɛp ər ə tɪv, -əˌreɪ- /

adjective

  1. tending to separate.

  2. causing separation.


separative British  
/ ˈsɛpərətɪv, ˈsɛprə- /

adjective

  1. tending to separate or causing separation

"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

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of separative

1585–95; < Late Latin sēparātīvus, equivalent to Latin sēparāt ( us ) separate + -īvus -ive


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:

The price of enrichment has soared from $65 per separative work unit in February 2022—before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—to $181 an SWU today, according to data from research firm UxC.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

He said that the West wanted to limit Iran’s enrichment capacity to “10,000 separative work units, which is equivalent to 10,000 centrifuges of the older type that we already have.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 10, 2014

She had felt the moment of detached fancy as separative, and he had now to soothe her passionate weeping.

From The Nest, The White Pagoda, The Suicide, A Forsaken Temple, Miss Jones and The Masterpiece by Anne Douglas Sedgwick

Pessimism is by its very nature separative, isolating, silent.

From Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic by Sidney Lewis Gulick

The other, the separative policy, the keeping of leaven and lump apart, has been tried, and has failed, utterly failed.

From Amusement: A Force in Christian Training by Marvin Richardson Vincent

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