different between solitary vs separate

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s?l?t??i/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s?l?t?i/

Etymology 1

From Middle English [Term?], borrowed from Latin s?lit?rius.

Noun

solitary (countable and uncountable, plural solitaries)

1. (countable) One who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchoret, hermit or recluse.
   • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift [Avon ed., 1976, p. 24]:

     He brooded and intrigued fantastically. He was becoming one of the big-time solitaries. And he wasn't meant to be a solitary. He was meant to be in active life, a social creature.

2. (uncountable) Solitary confinement.

   The prisoners who started the riot were moved to solitary.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:recluse

Translations

Adjective

solitary (not comparable)

1. Living or being by oneself; alone; having no companion present
2. Performed, passed, or endured alone

3. Not much visited or frequented; remote from society

4. Not inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted
   • 1769, Bible (King James Version), Lamentations 1.1

     How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!
5. gloomy; dismal, because of not being inhabited.
6. Single; individual; sole.
7. (botany) Not associated with others of the same kind.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

solitary

1. (archaic) The Rodrigues solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria), an extinct flightless bird.

Anagrams

• royalist

English

Etymology

Latin separatus, perfect passive participle of separare (“to separate”), from Latin s?- (“apart”) +? par? (“prepare”). Displaced Middle English scheden, from Old English sc?adan (whence English shed).

Pronunciation

• (adjective, noun) IPA^(key): /?s?p??t/, /?s?p???t/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /?s?p??e?t/
• Hyphenation: sep?a?rate

Adjective

separate (not comparable)

1. Apart from (the rest); not connected to or attached to (anything else).

   This chair can be disassembled into five separate pieces.

2. (followed by “from”) Not together (with); not united (to).

   I try to keep my personal life separate from work.

Translations

Verb

separate (third-person singular simple present separates, present participle separating, simple past and past participle separated)

1. (transitive) To divide (a thing) into separate parts.

2. (transitive) To disunite from a group or mass; to disconnect.
   • 1683, John Dryden, The Art of Poetry

     From the fine gold I separate the allay [alloy].

   • Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

3. (transitive) To cause (things or people) to be separate.

4. (intransitive) To divide itself into separate pieces or substances.

5. (obsolete) To set apart; to select from among others, as for a special use or service.

   • Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

Synonyms

• (divide into separate parts): partition, split; see also Thesaurus:divide
• (disunite something from one thing): See also Thesaurus:disjoin
• (cause to be separate): split up, tear apart
• (divide itself): break down, come apart, disintegrate, fall apart
• (select from among others): earmark, sepose; see also Thesaurus:set apart

Antonyms

• annex
• combine

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

separate (plural separates)

1. (usually in the plural) Anything that is sold by itself, especially articles of clothing such as blouses, skirts, jackets, and pants.

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Usage notes

• The spelling is separate (-par-). seperate (-per-) is a common misspelling.

See also

• disunite
• disconnect
• divide
• split
• reduce
• subtract

Anagrams

• asperate

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

separate

1. inflection of separat:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Verb

separate

1. second-person plural indicative present of separare
2. second-person plural imperative of separare

Latin

Verb

s?par?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of s?par?

References

• separate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• separate in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• separate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

separate

1. definite singular of separat
2. plural of separat

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

separate

1. definite singular of separat
2. plural of separat