separate definition | Dictionary.com

sep⋅a⋅rate

[v. sep-uh-reyt; adj., n. sep-er-it]

verb, -rat⋅ed, -rat⋅ing, adjective, noun

–verb (used with object)

1.	to keep apart or divide, as by an intervening barrier or space: to separate two fields by a fence.

2.	to put, bring, or force apart; part: to separate two fighting boys.

3.	to set apart; disconnect; dissociate: to separate church and state.

4.	to remove or sever from association, service, etc., esp. legally or formally: He was separated from the army right after V-E Day.

5.	to sort, part, divide, or disperse (an assemblage, mass, compound, etc.), as into individual units, components, or elements.

6.	to take by parting or dividing; extract (usually fol. by from or out): to separate metal from ore.

7.	Mathematics. to write (the variables of a differential equation) in a form in which the differentials of the independent and dependent variables are, respectively, functions of these variables alone: We can separate the variables to solve the equation. Compare separation of variables.

–verb (used without object)

8.	to part company; withdraw from personal association (often fol. by from): to separate from a church.

9.	(of a married pair) to stop living together but without getting a divorce.

10.	to draw or come apart; become divided, disconnected, or detached.

11.	to become parted from a mass or compound: Cream separates from milk.

12.	to take or go in different directions: We have to separate at the crossroad.

–adjective

13.	detached, disconnected, or disjoined.

14.	unconnected; distinct; unique: two separate questions.

15.	being or standing apart; distant or dispersed: two separate houses; The desert has widely separate oases.

16.	existing or maintained independently: separate organizations.

17.	individual or particular: each separate item.

18.	not shared; individual or private: separate checks; separate rooms.

19.	(sometimes initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a church or other organization no longer associated with the original or parent organization.

–noun

20.	Usually, separates. women's outer garments that may be worn in combination with a variety of others to make different ensembles, as matching and contrasting blouses, skirts, and sweaters.

21.	offprint (def. 1).

22.	a bibliographical unit, as an article, chapter, or other portion of a larger work, printed from the same type but issued separately, sometimes with additional pages.

Origin:
1400–50; late ME (n. and adj.) < L sēparātus (ptp. of sēparāre), equiv. to sē- se- + par(āre) to furnish, produce, obtain, prepare + -ātus -ate ¹

Related forms:

sep⋅a⋅rate⋅ly, adverb

sep⋅a⋅rate⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1, 2. sever, sunder, split. Separate, divide imply a putting apart or keeping apart of things from each other. To separate is to remove from each other things previously associated: to separate a mother from her children. To divide is to split or break up carefully according to measurement, rule, or plan: to divide a cake into equal parts. 3. disjoin, disengage. 13. unattached, severed, discrete. 15. secluded, isolated. 16. independent.

Antonyms:
1–3. unite, connect.

off⋅print

[awf-print, of-]

–noun

1.	Also called separate. a reprint of an article that originally appeared as part of a larger publication.

–verb (used with object)

2.	to reprint separately, as an article from a larger publication.

Origin:
1880–85; trans. of G Abdruck

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To separate

sep·a·rate (sěp'ə-rāt')

v. sep·a·rat·ed, sep·a·rat·ing, sep·a·rates

v. tr.

1. To set or keep apart; disunite.
2. To space apart; scatter: small farms that were separated one from another by miles of open land.
3. To sort: separate mail by postal zones.
To differentiate or discriminate between; distinguish: a researcher who separated the various ethnic components of the population sample.
To remove from a mixture or combination; isolate.
To part (a couple), often by decree: She was separated from her husband last year.
To terminate a contractual relationship, as military service, with; discharge.

v. intr.

To come apart.
To withdraw: The state threatened to separate from the Union.
To part company; disperse.
To stop living together as spouses.
To become divided into components or parts: Oil and water tend to separate.

adj. (sěp'ər-ĭt, sěp'rĭt)

Set or kept apart; disunited: Libraries often have a separate section for reference books.
1. Existing as an independent entity.
2. often Separate Having undergone schism or estrangement from a parent body: Separate churches.
Dissimilar from all others; distinct: "a policeman's way of being separate from you even when he was being nice" (John le Carré).
Not shared; individual: two people who held separate views on the issue.
Archaic Withdrawn from others; solitary.

n. (sěp'ər-ĭt, sěp'rĭt)
A garment, such as a skirt, jacket, or pair of slacks, that may be purchased separately and worn in various combinations with other garments.

[Middle English separaten, from Latin sēparātus, past participle of sēparāre : sē-, apart; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots + parāre, to prepare; see perə-¹ in Indo-European roots.]
sep'a·rate·ly adv., sep'a·rate·ness n.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to become or cause to become parted, disconnected, or disunited. Separate applies both to putting apart and to keeping apart: "In the darkness and confusion, the bands of these commanders became separated from each other" (Washington Irving).
Divide implies separation by or as if by cutting or splitting into parts or shares; the term often refers to separation into opposing or hostile groups: We divided the orange into segments. "'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free" (Abraham Lincoln).
Part refers most often to the separation of closely associated persons or things: "Because ... nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us" (Emily Brontë).
Sever usually implies abruptness and force: "His head was nearly severed from his body" (H.G. Wells).
Sunder stresses violent tearing or wrenching apart: The country was sundered by civil war.
Divorce implies complete separation: "a priest and a soldier, two classes of men circumstantially divorced from the kind and homely ties of life" (Robert Louis Stevenson). See Also Synonyms at distinct.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Separate

Sep"a*rate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Separated; p. pr. & vb. n. Separating.] [L. separatus, p. p. of separare to separate; pfref. se- aside + parare to make ready, prepare. See Parade, and cf. Sever.]

1. To disunite; to divide; to disconnect; to sever; to part in any manner.

From the fine gold I separate the alloy. --Dryden.

Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. --Gen. xiii. 9.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? --Rom. viii. 35.

2. To come between; to keep apart by occupying the space between; to lie between; as, the Mediterranean Sea separates Europe and Africa.

3. To set apart; to select from among others, as for a special use or service.

Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called thaem. --Acts xiii. 2.

Separated flowers (Bot.), flowers which have stamens and pistils in separate flowers; diclinous flowers. --Gray.

Separate

Sep"a*rate\, v. i. To part; to become disunited; to be disconnected; to withdraw from one another; as, the family separated.

Separate

Sep"a*rate\, p. a. [L. separatus, p. p. ]

1. Divided from another or others; disjoined; disconnected; separated; -- said of things once connected.

Him that was separate from his brethren. --Gen. xlix. 26.

2. Unconnected; not united or associated; distinct; -- said of things that have not been connected.

For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinnere. --Heb. vii. 26.

3. Disunited from the body; disembodied; as, a separate spirit; the separate state of souls.

Separate estate (Law), an estate limited to a married woman independent of her husband.

Separate maintenance (Law), an allowance made to a wife by her husband under deed of separation. -- Sep"a*rate*ly, adv. -- Sep"a*rate*ness, n.

Language Translation for : separate

Spanish: separar,

German: trennen,

Japanese: 分ける

More Translations »

separate (v.)

1393 (implied in separable), from L. separatus, pp. of separare "to pull apart," from se- "apart" (see secret) + parare "make ready, prepare" (see pare). Sever (q.v.) is a doublet, via French. The adj. meaning "detached, kept apart" is first recorded 1600, from the pp. used as an adjective. Separates "articles of (women's) clothing that may be worn in various combinations" is attested from 1945. Separatism (1628) and separatist (1608) were first used in religious sense. Separate but equal in ref. to U.S. segregation policies on railroads is attested from 1890. Separate development, official name of apartheid in South Africa, is from 1955.

Main Entry: sep·a·rate
Pronunciation: 'se-p&-"rAt
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: -rat·ed; -rat·ing
transitive verb : to cause the separation of intransitive verb : to undergo a separation separated last year> —compare DIVORCE

Main Entry: sep·a·rate
Pronunciation: 'sep-(&-)"rAt
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: -rat·ed; -rat·ing
transitivesenses
1 : to isolate from a mixture : EXTRACT
2 : DISLOCATE <separated his shoulder in the last game of the season> separate intransitive senses
: to become isolated from a mixture

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