Separated

How to spell separated

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce separated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does separated mean?

1. verbPast tense of separate: moved or kept apart, or divided into parts.
2. adjectiveNo longer living together as a married couple, though not yet divorced.

Separated in a sentence

• verb

  The teacher separated the noisy pupils into different groups.

• adjective

  The form asked whether she was married, separated or divorced.

• verb

  A thin wall separated the kitchen from the dining room.

• adjective

  They have been separated for two years but remain on good terms.

Where does separated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of 'separate', which comes from the Latin verb separare, meaning 'to pull apart' or 'to divide'. That verb was built from se-, a prefix meaning 'apart' or 'aside', joined to parare, meaning 'to make ready' or 'to prepare', so the literal sense was something like 'to make ready apart'. English took the word in during the 1400s, first as an adjective and then as a verb, keeping the single 'p' and the awkward middle vowel that trips so many writers. The same se- 'apart' prefix shows up in 'secede', 'seduce' and 'select', while the parare root survives in 'prepare' and 'repair'. The classic spelling trap is that unstressed middle syllable: it sounds like 'sep-uh-rate', tempting people to write 'seperated', but the root is par, so it must be 'sepARated'.

How the word is built

• se- (apart)
• par (from parare: to prepare, make ready)
• -ate (verb suffix)
• -ed (past tense/participle)