separate
Syllables: sep·a·rate/ˈsɛp.əˌɹeɪt/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈsɛp.əˌɹæɪt/
separate verb: to divide (a thing) into separate parts.
Verb
separate (third-person singular simple present separates, present participle separating, simple past and past participle separated)
- 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...2007 March 14, Emma Marris, “The Species and the Specious”, in Nature, number 446
- To disunite from a group or mass; to disconnect.
- Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 8:35
- From the fine gold I separate the allay [alloy].1683, John Dryden, The Art of Poetry
- Synonyms:
- differentiate, disaggregate, disassemble, discriminate, disjoin, disunify, disunite, divide, peel off, pick off
- 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...2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36
- Synonyms:
- split up, tear apart
- To divide itself into separate pieces or substances.
- The sauce will separate if you don't keep stirring.
- Synonyms:
- break down, come apart, disintegrate, fall apart
- 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.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 13:2
Adjective
separate (not comparable)
- 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.2002, Joan L. Bybee, Michael Noonan, Complex Sentences in Grammar and Discourse, page 152
- Not together (with); not united (to).
- I try to keep my personal life separate from work.
Noun
separate (plural separates)
- 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.2017 October 2, Jess Cartner-Morle, “Stella McCartney lays waste to disposable fashion in Paris”, in the Guardian
- A printing of an article from a periodical as its own distinct publication and distributed independently, often with different page numbers.
separate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
separate in Hindi
- apart from; not connected to
- अलग alag, अलहदा alahdā
separate in Tamil
- apart from; not connected to
- பிரி piri
separate in Marathi
- separate
- सुटे suṭe
separate in Urdu
- apart from; not connected to
- الگ alag
More languagesFewer languages
- separate in Bengali
- আলাদা alada
- separate in Telugu
- వేరు చేయు vēru cēyu, విడి viḍi, విడిపోవు viḍipōvu
- separate in Malayalam
- വേർതിരിക്കുക vēṟtirikkuka, വേർതിരിയുക vēṟtiriyuka
- separate in Kannada
- ಬೇರ್ಪಡು, ಬೇರೆಬೇರೆಯಾಗು, ಬೇರ್ಪಡಿಸು, ಬೇರುಪಡು
- separate in Punjabi
- ਅਲਹਿਦਾ alahidā
- separate in Gujarati
- પરું parũ, નોખું nokhũ, જુદું judũ, વીણવું vīṇvũ
- separate in Odia
- ଅନ୍ୟ anya, ଖଣ୍ଡିବା khaṇḍibā
- separate in Sanskrit
- वेवेक्ति vevekti, यु yu, अववृणक्ति avavṛṇakti, परिच्छिद् paricchid
- separate in Assamese
- সুকীয়া xukia
- separate in Nepali
- छुट्ट्याउनु chuṭṭyāunu
- separate in Pashto
- بېل bel, جلا jëlâ
- separate in Tagalog
- ihiwalay
- separate in Arabic
- فَصَلَ faṣala, مُنْفَصِل munfaṣil
- separate in Indonesian
- memisahkan
- separate in Persian
- جدایدن
- Kashmiri
- بیٛوٚن byon, اَلَگ alag, عَلاحِدٕ ʿalāhidụ, ژٔٹِتھ ċạṭith
Examples of separate in a sentence
- The dissociative techniques separated ammonium chloride into hydrochloric acid and ammonia.
- Helium-2 is unbound, as it is energetically favorable for it to split into two separate protons.
- David's mother kept a kosher kitchen, with separate sets of dishes for meat and for dairy.
Synonyms of separate
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of separate
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | separates |
| present participle | separating |
| past participle | separated |
| past | separated |
| alternative misspelling (archaic) | seperate |
| Noun | |
| plural | separates |
Origin of separate
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.
From Middle English separat, see -ate (“adjective-forming suffix”) and Etymology 1 for more.
From a substantivization of the above adjective, see -ate (“noun-forming suffix”) and Etymology 1 for more.
Words formed from separate
- electroseparate
- enantioseparate
- lift and separate
- reseparate
- separable
- separase
- separatability
- separatable
- separatee
- separately
- separate out
- separate the men from the boys
- separate the sheep from the goats
- separate the wheat from the chaff
- separatical
- separation
- separational
- separationism
- separationist
- separatism
- separatist
- separatory
- separature
- go their separate ways
- inseparate
- nonseparate
- semiseparate
- separate but equal
- separate cover
- separate estate
- separate maintenance
- separateness
- separate opinion
- separate peace
- separate school
- septel
- unseparate
- write as separate words
Phrases with separate
Questions about separate
- What does separate mean?
- Separate means to divide (a thing) into separate parts.
- What is separate in Hindi?
- Separate in Hindi is अलग (alag), अलहदा (alahdā). See Separate meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is separate?
- Separate can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce separate?
- Separate is pronounced /ˈsɛp.əˌɹeɪt/ (US).
- What is the past tense of separate?
- The past tense of separate is separated.
Words near separate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: separate (page history and authors); सुटे (Marathi) (page history and authors); আলাদা (Bengali) (page history and authors); separate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); જુદું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଅନ୍ୟ (Odia) (page history and authors); अववृणक्ति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); छुट्ट्याउनु (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-separate-verb.ogg.
Cite this entry: “separate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/separate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.