separate
Forms
- present (v1)
- separate
- past (v2)
- separated
- past participle (v3)
- separated
- present participle
- separating
- 3rd person singular
- separates
- Plural
- separates
Definitions
1.To disunite from a group or mass; to disconnect.
- Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
- From the fine gold I separate the allay [alloy].
2.To divide (a thing) into separate parts.
- Separate the articles from the headings.
3.To cause (things or people) to be separate.
- If the kids get too noisy, separate them for a few minutes.
4.To divide itself into separate pieces or substances.
- The sauce will separate if you don't keep stirring.
1.Apart from (the rest); not connected to or attached to (anything else).
- This chair can be disassembled into five separate pieces.
- Syntactically, hendiadic constructions differ from synthetonic sequences in that the latter are separate clauses, and hence are separately negatable and may have different tenses and aspects and different subjects.
2.Not together (with); not united (to).
- I try to keep my personal life separate from work.
1.Anything that is sold by itself, especially articles of clothing such as blouses, skirts, jackets, and pants.
- French taffeta evening separates – a puffball skirt, and a ruffled blouse – were pressed flat to drag them up to date.
2.A printing of an article from a periodical as its own distinct publication and distributed independently, often with different page numbers.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2119
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English separaten (“to separate”), from separat (“separated”) + -en, from Latin sēparātus, perfect passive participle of sēparō (“to separate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from sē- (“apart”) + parō (“prepare”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“produce, procure, bring forward, bring forth”). Displaced Middle English scheden, from Old English scēadan (whence English shed).