Separatist

How to spell separatist

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce separatist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does separatist mean?

1. nounA person who advocates that a particular group, region, or community should break away and become independent.
2. adjectiveRelating to or supporting the breaking away of a group or region to form its own state or body.

Separatist in a sentence

• noun

  The separatist leader called for a referendum on independence.

• adjective

  The separatist movement gained support in the rural provinces.

• noun

  Police monitored the small separatist group ahead of the march.

• adjective

  Officials dismissed the separatist rhetoric as unrealistic.

Where does separatist come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb separare, meaning 'to set apart' or 'to divide', which combined se- 'apart' with parare 'to prepare or make ready'. The past participle separatus gave English the adjective and verb 'separate', and from there speakers built 'separatist' to name a person who advocates breaking away, especially from a church or a state. It rose to prominence in English during the 1600s, when it described religious dissenters who wanted to break from the established Church of England, and it later broadened to political movements seeking independence. The deceptive spelling hides the same trap as 'separate': the middle vowel is an unstressed 'a' (from parare), not the 'e' that the ear expects, so the word is sep-A-rat-ist, not sep-E-rat-ist. Remembering the 'par' root, the same one inside 'prepare' and 'apparatus', is the quickest way to lock in that troublesome second vowel.

How the word is built

• se- (apart)
• par(e) (from Latin parare: to prepare, make ready)
• -at (from separat-, past participle stem)
• -ist (one who advocates)