separate
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L327506 on Wikidata ↗adjective
- not together
verb
- move apart from one another
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈsɛp.(ə.)ɹət/ / /ˈsɛp.ɹət/ / /ˈsep.ɹət/ / /ˈsɛp.əˌɹeɪt/ / /ˈsɛpˌɹeɪt/ / /ˈsɛp.ɚˌeɪt/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English separat, see -ate (“adjective-forming suffix”) and Etymology 1 for more.
- 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.”
- Not together (with); not united (to).
“I try to keep my personal life separate from work.”
noun
Etymology: From a substantivization of the above adjective, see -ate (“noun-forming suffix”) and Etymology 1 for more.
- 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.”
- A printing of an article from a periodical as its own distinct publication and distributed independently, often with different page numbers.
verb
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). Doublet of sever, also derived from the same Latin verb.
- To divide (a thing) into separate parts.
“Separate the articles from the headings.”
“Ant taxonomists have decided that anything that's worth separating should be separated at the species level, and have no truck with subspecies at all. Butterfly taxonomists, however, like the triple-barrelled name approach and dote on subspecies. As a result, the numbers of ant species and butterfly species are not directly comparable.”
- 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].”
- To cause (things or people) to be separate.
“If the kids get too noisy, separate them for a few minutes.”
“It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […]; […]; or perhaps to muse on the irrelevance of the borders that separate nation states and keep people from understanding their shared environment.”
- To divide itself into separate pieces or substances.
“The sauce will separate if you don't keep stirring.”
- 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 them.”