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1. Act as a barrier between; stand between
   "The mountain range separates the two countries";
   - divide
    
2. Force, take, or pull apart
   "He separated the fighting children";
   - disunite, divide, part
    
3. Mark as different
   "We separate several kinds of maple";
   - distinguish, differentiate, secern [rare], secernate, severalize, severalise [Brit], tell, tell apart
    
4. Separate into parts or portions
   "separate the cake into three equal parts";
   - divide, split, split up, dissever, carve up
    
5. Divide into components or constituents
   "Separate the wheat from the chaff"
    
6. Arrange or order by classes or categories
   "How would you separate these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?";
   - classify, class, sort, assort, sort out
    
7. Make a division or separation
   - divide
    
8. Discontinue an association or relation; go different ways
   "The couple separated after 25 years of marriage";
   - part, split up, split, break, break up
    
9. Go one's own way; move apart
   "The friends separated after the party";
   - part, split
    
10. Become separated into pieces or fragments
    "The figurine separated";
    - break, split up, fall apart, come apart
     
11. Treat differently on the basis of factors such as sex, race, age, etc.
    - discriminate, single out
     
12. Move or break apart
    "The two pieces that we had glued separated";
    - divide, part
     
13. Divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork
    "The road separates";
    - branch, ramify, fork, furcate

1. Independent; not united or joint
   "a problem consisting of two separate issues"; "they went their separate ways"; "formed a separate church"
    
2. Standing apart; not attached to or supported by anything
   "a house with a separate garage";
   - freestanding
    
3. Separated according to race, sex, class, or religion
   "separate but equal"; "girls and boys in separate classes"
    
4. Have the connection undone; having become separate
   - disjoined

1. A separately printed article that originally appeared in a larger publication
   - offprint, reprint
    
2. A garment that can be purchased separately and worn in combinations with other garments

Derived forms: separating, separated, separates

See also: apart, asunder, branch out, detached, discrete, disjoint, disjunct, distinct, divided, fall, independent, individual, isolable, isolated, other, out on a limb, segregated, separated, separation, set-apart, single, unaccompanied, unconnected, unintegrated, unshared

Type of: article, categorise [Brit], categorize, change, change integrity, displace, diverge, finger [informal], garment, identify, move, place

Antonym: joint

Encyclopedia: Separate, equal