Separate

English Meaning

To disunite; to divide; to disconnect; to sever; to part in any manner.

1. To set or keep apart; disunite.
2. To space apart; scatter: small farms that were separated one from another by miles of open land.
3. To sort: separate mail by postal zones.
4. To differentiate or discriminate between; distinguish: a researcher who separated the various ethnic components of the population sample.
5. To remove from a mixture or combination; isolate.
6. To part (a couple), often by decree: She was separated from her husband last year.
7. To terminate a contractual relationship, as military service, with; discharge.
8. To come apart.
9. To withdraw: The state threatened to separate from the Union.
10. To part company; disperse.
11. To stop living together as spouses.
12. To become divided into components or parts: Oil and water tend to separate.
13. Set or kept apart; disunited: Libraries often have a separate section for reference books.
14. Existing as an independent entity.
15. Having undergone schism or estrangement from a parent body: Separate churches.
16. Dissimilar from all others; distinct: "a policeman's way of being separate from you even when he was being nice” ( John le Carré).
17. Not shared; individual: two people who held separate views on the issue.
18. Archaic Withdrawn from others; solitary.
19. A garment, such as a skirt, jacket, or pair of slacks, that may be purchased separately and worn in various combinations with other garments.