separable
Americanadjective
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capable of being separated, parted, or dissociated.
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Mathematics.
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containing a countable dense subset.
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(of a differential equation) capable of being written so that coefficients of the differentials of the independent and dependent variables are, respectively, functions of these variables alone.
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adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of separable
1350–1400; Middle English (< Middle French ) < Latin sēparābilis, equivalent to sēparā ( re ) to separate + -bilis -ble
Explanation
Things that are separable can be pulled apart or divided from each other. You may feel that someone's political opinions don't matter, because they are completely separable from the kind of person they are. If you're extremely close to your best friend, the two of you might not be emotionally separable. In other words, you are emotionally attached to each other, or inseparable. But unless you're handcuffed together, you are physically separable. This adjective is clearly related to the verb separate, "move apart or form a boundary between," from the Latin root separare, "pull apart."
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.
But up until then, the night’s two starting pitchers were hardly separable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2025
The tribunal rejected the claim as the firms were in "separable" areas.
From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2024
This is known as technical-social dualism, the idea that the technical and social dimensions of engineering problems are readily separable and remain distinct throughout the problem-definition and solution process.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 24, 2022
This “analysis” made no room for the complexity of cultural influences, and reduced me to a collection of separable Chinese and American parts, somehow symbolic of the United States and China as rival political entities.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2022
Chemically distinct from uranium and therefore theoretically separable by chemical means, element 94 appeared to be about five times more fissionable than uranium.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
