SEPARATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does separation mean? 

• SEPARATION (noun)
  The noun SEPARATION has 9 senses:

1. the state of lacking unity

2. coming apart

3. the distance between things

4. sorting one thing from others

5. the social act of separating or parting company

6. the space where a division or parting occurs

7. the termination of employment (by resignation or dismissal)

8. (law) the cessation of cohabitation of man and wife (either by mutual agreement or under a court order)

9. the act of dividing or disconnecting

  Familiarity information: SEPARATION used as a noun is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SEPARATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of lacking unity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("separation" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Attribute:

separate (independent; not united or joint)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "separation"):

discreteness; distinctness; separateness; severalty (the state of being several and distinct)

isolation (a state of separation between persons or groups)

discontinuity (lack of connection or continuity)

disconnectedness; disconnection; disjunction; disjuncture (state of being disconnected)

disassociation (the state of being unconnected in memory or imagination)

Antonym:

union (the state of being joined or united or linked)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Coming apart

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

breakup; detachment; separation

Hypernyms ("separation" is a kind of...):

alteration; change; modification (an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "separation"):

breach; break; falling out; rift; rupture; severance (a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions))

break (the occurrence of breaking)

Derivation:

separate (come apart)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The distance between things

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

interval; separation

Context example:

fragile items require separation and cushioning

Hypernyms ("separation" is a kind of...):

distance (the property created by the space between two objects or points)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "separation"):

clearance (the distance by which one thing clears another; the space between them)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Sorting one thing from others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the separation of mail by postal zones

Hypernyms ("separation" is a kind of...):

sorting (grouping by class or kind or size)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "separation"):

threshing (the separation of grain or seeds from the husks and straw)

sifting; winnow; winnowing (the act of separating grain from chaff)

Derivation:

separate (divide into components or constituents)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The social act of separating or parting company

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the separation of church and state

Hypernyms ("separation" is a kind of...):

group action (action taken by a group of people)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "separation"):

seclusion (the act of secluding yourself from others)

separationism; separatism (advocacy of a policy of strict separation of church and state)

segregation; sequestration (the act of segregating or sequestering)

closing off; isolation (the act of isolating something; setting something apart from others)

divorce; divorcement (the legal dissolution of a marriage)

Derivation:

separate (go one's own way; move apart)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The space where a division or parting occurs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Context example:

he hid in the separation between walls

Hypernyms ("separation" is a kind of...):

space (an area reserved for some particular purpose)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The termination of employment (by resignation or dismissal)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("separation" is a kind of...):

final result; outcome; result; resultant; termination (something that results)

Sense 8

Meaning:

(law) the cessation of cohabitation of man and wife (either by mutual agreement or under a court order)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

legal separation; separation

Hypernyms ("separation" is a kind of...):

cessation; surcease (a stopping)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Derivation:

separate (discontinue an association or relation; go different ways)

Sense 9

Meaning:

The act of dividing or disconnecting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("separation" is a kind of...):

change of integrity (the act of changing the unity or wholeness of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "separation"):

dissociation (the act of removing from association)

secession; withdrawal (formal separation from an alliance or federation)

disunion (the termination or destruction of union)

disconnection; disjunction (the act of breaking a connection)

division (the act or process of dividing)

detachment; disengagement (the act of releasing from an attachment or connection)

tear (the act of tearing)

remotion; removal (the act of removing)

division; partition; partitioning; sectionalisation; sectionalization; segmentation (the act of dividing or partitioning; separation by the creation of a boundary that divides or keeps apart)

divergence; divergency (the act of moving away in different direction from a common point)

withdrawal (the act of ceasing to participate in an activity)

avulsion (a forcible tearing or surgical separation of one body part from another)

Instance hyponyms:

Secession (the withdrawal of eleven southern states from the Union in 1860 which precipitated the American Civil War)

Derivation:

separate (force, take, or pull apart)

 Context examples 

On Sunday, after morning service, the separation, so agreeable to almost all, took place.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“Why, there's a pretty wide separation between them and us,” said Steerforth, with indifference.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There is—I repeat it—a difference; and it is a good, and not a bad action to mark broadly and clearly the line of separation between them.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Anne's object was, not to be in the way of anybody; and where the narrow paths across the fields made many separations necessary, to keep with her brother and sister.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

A known risk factor of depression is exposure to early life stress, such as illness, parents’ separation or death, or adverse family circumstances.

(Recalling happy memories during adolescence can reduce risk of depression, University of Cambridge)

Techniques and methods for separating cells (usually viable) based on a variety of criteria for separation, such as size or density, non-specific surface properties, or specific surface properties.

(Cell Sorting, NCI Thesaurus)

Examples include thickening, thinning, deformity, and separation from the nail bed.

(Nail Changes, NCI Thesaurus)

The separation of specific cells or cell populations from a heterogeneous mixture.

(Negative Selection, NCI Thesaurus)

Separation of particles into size-differentiated fractions.

(Particle Sizing, NCI Thesaurus)

The process of separation into parts.

(Division, NCI Thesaurus)