desegregate
verb
de·seg·re·gate
(ˌ)dē-ˈse-gri-ˌgāt 
desegregated; desegregating; desegregates
: to eliminate segregation in
specifically
: to free of any law, provision, or practice requiring isolation of the members of a particular race in separate units
: to become desegregated
Examples of desegregate in a Sentence
efforts to desegregate the town's buses
Eventually the city's schools desegregated.
Recent Examples on the Web
One of her children, Marilyn Holifield, chose to be one of the first students to desegregate her high school in the early ’60s and went on to become a local civic leader and the first Black woman partner at a major law firm in Florida.
—
Kara Alaimo, CNN Money, 30 May 2025
The sit-ins spread to more than a hundred cities, and within six months, the Greensboro lunch counter—now part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History—was desegregated.
—Katya Cengel, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 May 2025
You were being escorted by U.S. Marshals into a school that was newly desegregated.
—NBC News, 29 Dec. 2024
Bridges was the first Black child to desegregate William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana in 1960.
—Tanasia Kenney, Miami Herald, 24 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for desegregate
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Kara Alaimo, CNN Money, 30 May 2025
The sit-ins spread to more than a hundred cities, and within six months, the Greensboro lunch counter—now part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History—was desegregated.
—Katya Cengel, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 May 2025
You were being escorted by U.S. Marshals into a school that was newly desegregated.
—NBC News, 29 Dec. 2024
Bridges was the first Black child to desegregate William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana in 1960.
—Tanasia Kenney, Miami Herald, 24 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for desegregate
Cite this Entry
“Desegregate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/desegregate. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
desegregate
verb
de·seg·re·gate
(ˈ)dē-ˈseg-ri-ˌgāt
: to eliminate segregation in
especially
: to end by law the isolation of members of a particular race in separate units
desegregate city schools
desegregation
noun
(ˌ)dē-ˌseg-ri-ˈgā-shən
Legal Definition
desegregate
transitive verb
de·seg·re·gate
dē-ˈse-grə-ˌgāt
desegregated; desegregating
: to eliminate segregation in
specifically
: to free from any law, provision, or practice requiring isolation of the members of a particular race in separate units
: to become desegregated
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