separator
Americannoun
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a person or thing that separates.
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any of various apparatus for separating one thing from another, as cream from milk, steam from water, or wheat from chaff.
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Electricity. a device that prevents metal contact between plates of opposite charge in a storage battery.
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Machinery. retainer.
noun
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a person or thing that separates
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a device for separating things into constituent parts, as milk into cream, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of separator
1600–10; < Late Latin sēparātor, equivalent to Latin sēparā ( re ) to separate + -tor -tor
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.
The South Korean lithium-battery separator supplier is facing persistent risks from a slowdown in U.S. electric-vehicle demand, the Daiwa analysts say.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 22, 2025
Now the Chinese SemCorp separator foil factory and the Chinese EcoPro cathode plant have sprung up too.
From BBC • Apr. 26, 2024
The PEC uses a pyroelectric composite material, as the separator in an electrochemical cell.
From Science Daily • Apr. 9, 2024
“That’s kind of what’s been our separator this year a little bit, is how we handled tough situations. We thrive in those situations where we’re counted out because we’ve all been there.”
From Seattle Times • Dec. 28, 2023
Their pulling made the tumbling rod keep rolling over, and the rod moved the machinery of the separator, which stood beside the stack of wheat.
From "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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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.