separate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: note: Indic
ipa: /sɛp(ə)ˈreːʈ/
ipa: /ˈsɛp.(ə.)ɹət/
rhymes: -ɛpɹət
rhymes: -ɛpəɹət
ipa: /ˈsɛp.əˌɹeɪt/
note: rhotic, also
ipa: /ˈsɛp.ɚˌeɪt/
rhymes: -ɛpəɹeɪt
Forms: form: separates
form: separating
form: separated
form: separated
form: seperate
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.
Senses: examples: text: Separate the articles from the headings.
text: 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.
ref: 2007 March 14, Emma Marris, “The Species and the Specious”, in Nature, number 446:
text: The mesosphere may be described as the earth's intermediate or middle atmosphere, which separates the thermosphere above from the ozonosphere (or stratosphere) below, both of which are responsible for absorption of most of the ultraviolet part of the solar radiation and preventing it from reaching the earth's surface.
ref: 2008, Kshudiram Saha, The Earth's Atmosphere: Its Physics and Dynamics, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 102:
synonyms: word: partition
word: split
word: becut
word: discerp
word: disintegrate
word: dispart
word: dissever
word: divide
word: divorce
word: divvy up
word: part
word: partition
word: piecemeal
word: rescind
word: section
word: sever
word: split
word: split up
word: sunder
glosses: To divide (a thing) into separate parts.
examples: text: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 8:35:
text: From the fine gold I separate the allay [alloy].
ref: 1683, John Dryden, The Art of Poetry:
text: There must be some deep-rooted anti-social principle in every man's nature, so dearly does he love aught that separates him from his kind; or is it but one of the many shapes taken by that mental kaleidoscope, vanity, the varying and the glittering, the desire of distinction, sinking into that of notice?
ref: 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Talisman, page 66:
synonyms: word: differentiate
word: disaggregate
word: disassemble
word: discriminate
word: disjoin
word: disunify
word: disunite
word: divide
word: peel off
word: pick off
word: separate
word: single out
word: unjoin
glosses: To disunite from a group or mass; to disconnect.
examples: text: If the kids get too noisy, separate them for a few minutes.
text: 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.
ref: 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:
synonyms: split up
tear apart
glosses: To cause (things or people) to be separate.
examples: text: The sauce will separate if you don't keep stirring.
synonyms: break down
come apart
disintegrate
fall apart
glosses: To divide itself into separate pieces or substances.
examples: text: Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 13:2:
synonyms: word: earmark
word: sepose
word: allocate
word: appropriate
word: assign
word: dedicate
word: detach
word: designate
word: earmark
word: preselect
word: put aside
word: secern
word: secernate
word: separate
word: sepose
word: sequester
word: set apart
word: set aside
glosses: To set apart; to select from among others, as for a special use or service.
Derived terms: lift and separate
separable
separately
separate out
separate the men from the boys
separate the sheep from the goats
separate the wheat from the chaff
separation
separational
separationism
separationist
Related terms: separative