Segregate

Segregate

Verb · /ˈseɡrɪɡeɪt/ · to set apart or divide from others

Definition

To segregate is to separate a person, group, or thing from others, typically on the basis of a distinguishing characteristic — race, gender, religion, category, or type. It can describe physical separation of spaces, forced social division, or the technical sorting of data and objects. In law and history, segregation carries the specific weight of racially enforced separation. In everyday and technical use, the word means any deliberate act of setting apart or partitioning.

Origin

From Latin segregare — se meaning apart and grex, gregis meaning flock. Literally: to separate from the flock. The word entered English in the sixteenth century meaning to set apart or exclude. Its most charged modern use emerged in the context of racial segregation laws in the United States and colonial-era South Africa, giving it strong social and political weight that colours even its neutral technical uses today.