separate

Universal Words adjective, verb adjective 1 ~ (from sth/sb) forming a unit by itself; not joined to sth else: separate bedrooms / offices * Raw meat must be kept separate from cooked meat. * The school is housed in two separate buildings. * Write a list of names on a separate piece of paper. 2 [usuallybeforenoun] different; not connected: It happened on three separate occasions. * For the past three years they have been leading totally separate lives. separateness noun [U,sing.]: Japan's long-standing sense of separateness and uniqueness IDIOMS go your separate ways 1 to end a relationship with sb: When the business was sold they went their separate ways. 2 to go in a different direction from sb you have been travelling with moreatCOVERn. verb 1 ~ (sth) (from / and sth) to divide into different parts or groups; to divide things into different parts or groups: [V] Stir the sauce constantly so that it does not separate. * [VN] It is impossible to separate belief from emotion. * Separate the eggs (= separate the YOLK from the white). * Make a list of points and separate them into 'desirable' and 'essential'. 2 ~ sb/sth (from / and sb/sth) to move apart; to make people or things move apart: [V] We separated into several different search parties. * South America separated from Africa 200 million years ago. * South America and Africa separated 200 million years ago. * [VN] Police tried to separate the two men who were fighting. * The war separated many families. * Those suffering from infectious diseases were separated from the other patients. 3 [VN] ~ sb (from / and sb) to be between two people, areas, countries, etc. so that they are not touching or connected: A thousand kilometres separates the two cities. * A high wall separated our back yard from the playing field. 4 [V] ~ (from sb) to stop living together as a couple with your husband, wife or partner: He separated from his wife after 20 years of marriage. * They separated last year. 5 [VN] ~ sb/sth (from sb/sth) to make sb/sth different in some way from sb/sth else: Politics is the only thing that separates us (= that we disagree about). * Her lack of religious faith separated her from the rest of her family. * The judges found it impossible to separate the two contestants (= they gave them equal scores). * Only four points separate the top three teams. IDIOMS see MANn., SHEEP, WHEAT PHRASALVERBS separate out