separation

views updated May 18 2018

sep·a·ra·tion / ˌsepəˈrāshən/ • n. 1. the action or state of moving or being moved apart: the damage that might arise from the separation of parents and children. ∎  the state in which a husband and wife remain married but live apart: legal grounds for divorce or separation | she and her husband have agreed to a trial separation. See also legal separation (sense 1).2. the division of something into constituent or distinct elements: prose structured into short sentences with meaningful separation into paragraphs. ∎  the process of distinguishing between two or more things: religion involved the separation of the sacred and the profane | the constitution imposed a clear separation between church and state. ∎  the process of sorting and then extracting or removing a specified substance for use or rejection. ∎ short for color separation. ∎  (also stereo separation) distinction or difference between the signals carried by the two channels of a stereophonic system. ∎  Physics & Aeron. the generation of a turbulent boundary layer between the surface of a body and a moving fluid, or between two fluids moving at different speeds.PHRASES: separation of powers an act of vesting the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government in separate bodies.

Separation

views updated Jun 27 2018

363. Separation

abalienation
the act of estrangement or separation, as in marriage. Also alienation.
alienation
abalienation.
severalty
the state or condition of being separate. See also 331. PROPERTY and OWNERSHIP .
severance
1. the act or process of severing or separating.
2. the state or condition of being severed or separated, as in the ending of a relationship.

Separation

views updated May 23 2018

SEPARATION

A termination ofcohabitationofhusband and wifeeither by mutual agreement or, in the case of judicial separation, under the decree of a court.

cross-references

Divorce.