SEPARATION

[noun] [U]During the war many couples had to endure long periods of separation (= not being together).After many years the government finally abandoned its apartheid system of racial separation.The law involved the separation of the population into whites and non-whites.He firmly believes in the separation (= independent existence) of church and state.A separation is an often legal arrangement by which two married people stop living together as husband and wife.Couples may agree to divorce each other after a separation. [C]They're considering separation as an option. [U]