separation

Noun

1. The act of disuniting two or more things, or the condition of being separated.

   Synonyms: detachment disjunction division rupture severance

   Antonyms: annexation combination unification composite conjunction fusion junction juncture melding merger union unity

2. The act or condition of two or more people being separated from one another.
   • We were a band of brothers, and never dearer to each other than now. The thought which gave us the most pain, was the probable separation which would now take place, in case we were sold off to the far south, as we were...
   • […] my longing for her was undiminished despite our months of near-complete separation. - 2007, Mohsin Hamid, chapter 10, in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Orlando: Harcourt, page 141:
3. The act or condition of a married couple living in separate homes while remaining legally married.
   • ‘If he dares to refuse me a separation, I’ll have one in law—I can—and I hope this will be a warning to all girls who have seen this disgraceful exhibition.’ - 1839, Charles Dickens, chapter 44, in Nicholas Nickleby:
   • […] she [knows] her great-aunt’s concern over her son Warren, his two divorces, and now Alice’s bitter separation from her husband, Ben. - 1993, Carol Shields, chapter 8, in The Stone Diaries, Toronto: Vintage,...

   1. (law) An agreement legalizing such an arrangement.

      • I should have gone back to her the day after the fair, if it hadn't been for you talking about the law, and rubbish about getting a separation; - 1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter 52, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […],...
      • “You are deserting me?” “Don’t be the neglected, dramatic wife, Scarlett. The rôle isn’t becoming. I take it, then, you do not want a divorce or even a separation? Well, then, I’ll come back often enough to keep gossip...

      Synonyms: divorce from bed and board

4. The place at which a division occurs.
   • I was now on the separation of two vast water-sheds; behind me all the streams were bound for the Garonne and the Western Ocean; before me was the basin of the Rhone. - 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Heart of the...

   Synonyms: border boundary demarcation

5. An interval, gap or space that separates things or people.
   • […] gentle friend, for love and courtesy Lie further off; in human modesty, Such separation as may well be said Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid, So far be distant; - c. 1595, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer...

   Synonyms: break interstice gap interlapse interspace interstitium opening separation space

6. An object that separates two spaces.
   • [The orchard] was full of trees, it bloomed with flowers: a very high wall shut it out from the court, on one side; on the other, a beech avenue screened it from the lawn. At the bottom was a sunk fence; its sole...

   Synonyms: barrier separator

7. Departure from active duty, while not necessarily leaving the service entirely.