sever
UK/ˈsɛv.ə//ˈsɛv.ɚ/
sever verb: to cut free.
Verb
sever (third-person singular simple present severs, present participle severing, simple past and past participle severed)
- To cut free.
- After he graduated, he severed all links to his family.
- to sever the head from the body
- Synonyms:
- hew
- To suffer disjunction; to be parted or separated.
- No more can I be seuered from your side1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- How great then was my anguish at being severed from my Regiment after thirty-three years!1918, Rudyard Kipling, “A Retired Gentleman”, in The Eyes of Asia, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 4
- To make a separation or distinction; to distinguish.
- The Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 9:4
- They claimed the right of severing in their challenges.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
- To disconnect; to disunite; to terminate.
- sever an estate in joint tenancy1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC
sever meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
sever in Tamil
- to cut free
- அறு aṟu
- to be parted or separated
- அறு aṟu
sever in Urdu
- الگ کرنا, القط کرنا, جدا ہونا, کاٹنا, ناطہ توڑنا, پھاڑنا
sever in Malayalam
- to sever; to cut off
- കൊയ്യുക koyyuka
sever in Kannada
- ಕತ್ತರಿಸು, ಎರಡು ಭಾಗಮಾಡು, ಕಡಿ, ತುಂಡಿಸು, ಬೇರ್ಪಡಿಸು, ಪ್ರತ್ಯೇಕಿಸು
More languagesFewer languages
- sever in Sanskrit
- रि ri
- sever in Arabic
- جَذَبَ jaḏaba, قَطَعَ qaṭaʕa, بَتَّ batta
Examples of sever in a sentence
- The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 13:49:
- That I just severed the main vein with a chainsaw and I'm in pain?1999, Eminem, Role Model:
Synonyms of sever
Forms of sever
| third-person singular present | severs |
|---|---|
| present participle | severing |
| past participle | severed |
| past | severed |
Origin of sever
From Middle English severen, from Old French sevrer, from Latin separāre (“to separate”), from se- (“apart”) + parāre (“provide, arrange”). Doublet of separate, from the past participle of that Latin verb.
Words formed from sever
Phrases with sever
Words that rhyme with sever
17 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about sever
- What does sever mean?
- Sever means to cut free.
- What is sever in Tamil?
- Sever in Tamil is அறு (aṟu). See Sever meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use sever in a sentence?
- The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.
- What part of speech is sever?
- Sever is a verb.
- How do you pronounce sever?
- Sever is pronounced /ˈsɛv.ɚ/ (US).
- What is the past tense of sever?
- The past tense of sever is severed.
Words near sever in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sever (page history and authors); sever (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); കൊയ്യുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); sever (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); रि (Sanskrit) (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-sever.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sever.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sever. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.