separate

verb

1. 1

   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.

   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.

2. 2

   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].

   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?

3. 3

   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.

4. 4

   To divide itself into separate pieces or substances.

   The sauce will separate if you don't keep stirring.

5. 5

   obsoleteTo 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.

adjective

1. 1

   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.

2. 2

   Not together (with); not united (to).

   I try to keep my personal life separate from work.

noun

1. 1

   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.

2. 2

   A printing of an article from a periodical as its own distinct publication and distributed independently, often with different page numbers.

Forms

plural

separates

past tense

separated

past participle

separated

present participle

separating

third person singular

separates