[v. sep-uh-reyt; adj., n. sep-er-it] 
verb, -rat⋅ed, -rat⋅ing, adjective, noun | 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |