separate from (someone or something)

separate from (someone or something)

1. To split off, disconnect, or become isolated from other people or things. My friends and I separated from the tour group to look at a different exhibit on our own. The power unit keeps separating from the rest of the machine.
2. To remove and isolate someone, something, or a group from one or more other people or things. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "separate" and "from." The teacher found that separating the boys from the girls made the class run much smoother each day. Please go through that huge stack of books and separate the ones you want to keep from the ones you want to sell.
3. To cease having a married relationship with someone without getting a divorce. My mom separate from my dad when I was 15, but they didn't get an official divorce until just last year. A: "I heard Tom is separating from his wife." B: "Oh my. I knew they'd been struggling, but I didn't know it was that bad!"
See also: separate
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

separate someone from (someone else)

 and separate something from something else
to segregate people or things. The nurse separated the infected people from the healthy ones. Please separate the spoiled apples from the good ones.
See also: separate

separate something from something else Go to separate someone from someone

else.
See also: else, go, separate
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • separate from
  • separate from else Go to separate from
  • separate off
  • separate off (from someone or something)
  • separate off from
  • hang up
  • hung up
  • separate into
  • separate into (something)
  • turned off