ˌsepəˈrāshən noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English separacion, from Middle French separation, from Latin separation-, separatio, from separatus (past participle of separare to separate) + -ion-, -io -ion — more at separate
1.
a. : an act or instance of dividing : detachment , dispersal
separation of church and state
shipment of fragile or delicate articles … requires separation and cushioning of items — Export Packing
families … would face separation if they should avail themselves of the provisions of the Refugee Relief Act — D.D.Eisenhower
b. : arrangement of mail according to destination : sorting
after cancellation … trundled the letters on wheeled trays to the next process, separation — National Geographic
c. : burble 3
d. : separateness , segregation
courts and legislature work in separation and aloofness — B.N.Cardozo
we can no longer risk letting any large section of the human race live in separation , cut off from … the rest — I.A.Richards
e. : dissimilarity of character : difference , distinction
should not give the impression that there is … no great separation between the ends of Communism and those of the West — D.H.Gillis
2.
a. : an act or instance of parting company
after the separation of the three boats … in the storm — W.J.Ghent
b.
(1) : withdrawal from a parent body : secession , schism
personally loyal though he was … believed that separation was inevitable — T.M.Spaulding
(2) usually capitalized : a body of dissenters especially from an established church : separatists
one of the greatest of the early leaders of the Separation — George Willison
3. : isolation from a mixture : extraction
separation of flour from bran by bolting
4.
a.
(1) : cessation of cohabitation between husband and wife by mutual agreement ; especially : judicial separation
(2) canon law : annulment
b. : termination of a contractual relationship : resignation , discharge
separation from the service
separation from employment
a serious breach of accepted standards of deportment … may be punished by loss of social privileges, probation, or separation — College of William & Mary Cat.
5.
a. : a point or line of division : demarcation
recommend that there be a clear line of separation — J.P.Colbert
b. : a cause or means of dividing : barrier , partition ; specifically : a compartment in a mail-sorting case
sorted 100 cards to 53 separations at the rate of 50 per minute — Postal Service News
c. : an intervening space : gap , interval
the separation between the spokes of a wheel
d. : the distance between the two parts of an originally continuous surface (as the top of a stratum) after dislocation by faulting — compare normal horizontal separation , perpendicular separation
6. : a method or result of dividing: as
a. : the propagation of plants by parts which are naturally or easily removed from the parent plant (as gladiolus corms, lily bulbels) — compare division 20
b. : color separation
c. : a batch of sorted mail