-ˌgāt
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The prefix se- means "apart", so when you segregate something you set it apart from the herd. The word typically means separating something undesirable from the healthy majority. During the apple harvest, damaged fruit is segregated from the main crop and used for cider. In prisons, hardened criminals are segregated from youthful offenders. Lepers used to be segregated from the general population because they were thought to be highly infectious. The opposite of segregate is often integrate, and the two words were in the news almost daily for decades as African-Americans struggled to be admitted into all-white schools and neighborhoods.
Synonyms
Examples of segregate in a Sentence
Zach Schonfeld, The Hill, 29 Oct. 2024
Schools are increasingly targeted in mass shootings and effectively segregated by race.
—Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2024
Adrienne So, WIRED, 23 Oct. 2024
Kach wanted to strip Arab Israelis of their citizenship, segregate Israeli public spaces, and ban marriages between Jews and non-Jews.
—Isabel Debre, USA TODAY, 28 Aug. 2023
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Dictionary Entries Near segregate
Cite this Entry
“Segregate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/segregate. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
segregate
1 of 2 intransitive verb
segregate
2 of 2 noun
Legal Definition
segregate
verb
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