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separate.

To divide (a thing) into separate parts.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈsɛp.əˌɹeɪt/Canada, General-American/ˈsɛpˌɹeɪt/Canada, General-American/ˈsɛp.ɚˌeɪt/Canada, General-American/ˈsɛp.əˌɹæɪt/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. To divide (a thing) into separate parts.

    transitive
    Separate the articles from the headings.
  2. To disunite from a group or mass; to disconnect.

    transitive
  3. To cause (things or people) to be separate.

    transitive
    If the kids get too noisy, separate them for a few minutes.
  4. To divide itself into separate pieces or substances.

    intransitive
    The sauce will separate if you don't keep stirring.
  5. To set apart; to select from among others, as for a special use or service.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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). Doublet of sever, also derived from the same Latin verb.

adj/ˈsɛp.əˌɹeɪt/Canada, General-American/ˈsɛpˌɹeɪt/Canada, General-American/ˈsɛp.ɚˌeɪt/Canada, General-American/ˈsɛp.əˌɹæɪt/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. Apart from (the rest); not connected to or attached to (anything else).

    not-comparable
    This chair can be disassembled into five separate pieces.
  2. Not together (with); not united (to).

    not-comparable
    I try to keep my personal life separate from work.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English separat, see -ate (“adjective-forming suffix”) and Etymology 1 for more.

noun/ˈsɛp.əˌɹeɪt/Canada, General-American/ˈsɛpˌɹeɪt/Canada, General-American/ˈsɛp.ɚˌeɪt/Canada, General-American/ˈsɛp.əˌɹæɪt/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. Anything that is sold by itself, especially articles of clothing such as blouses, skirts, jackets, and pants.

    plural-normally
  2. A printing of an article from a periodical as its own distinct publication and distributed independently, often with different page numbers.

Where this word comes from

From a substantivization of the above adjective, see -ate (“noun-forming suffix”) and Etymology 1 for more.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.