segregate

The civil rights movement fought against practices that segregated blacks and whites.
Many states at that time continued to segregate public schools.

Recent Examples of segregate from the Web

The records reviewed by the AJC do not provide a clear picture of how the law firms divided and segregated their work.

— stephen deere, ajc, "Atlanta’s legal bills related to corruption probe top $7.5M, AJC finds," 28 June 2018
Hundreds of acres of currently inaccessible parkland will become accessible and barriers that isolate and segregate the park will be replaced with bridges and access points to the park.

— Houston Chronicle, "The rebirth of Houston’s most beloved park," 20 June 2018
While there are costs associated with segregating A2 milk and performing genetic tests to make cows produce the right type of milk, the extra money is appreciated.

— michael hill, USA TODAY, "Got indigestion? These cows could solve your milk problem," 1 June 2018
In addition to taking dips in the warm lap pool and the sea water pool, Allas offers three different saunas, both gender-segregated and mixed.

— laura studarus, Marie Claire, "The Ultimate Helsinki Sauna Crawl," 4 Apr. 2018
Changes were particularly pronounced in evangelical churches, which have historically been racially segregated, and seems to have been spurred, at least in part, by the proliferation of evangelical megachurches.

— tara isabella burton, Vox, "Before Trump, churches were increasingly multiracial. What next?," 3 July 2018
Bostick said the now-famous cells were taken without consent from Lacks, who was African American, during a 1951 visit to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, which was racially segregated at the time.

— deneen l. brown, Washington Post, "Can the ‘immortal cells’ of Henrietta Lacks sue for their own rights?," 25 June 2018
Taking things a step further, HomePass can also be used to segregate network access depending on which password someone has.

— jim salter, Ars Technica, "Exclusive: Plume’s new “Superpod” hardware is here—and it’s fast," 12 June 2018
The youngest is Majid Khan, 38, who has pleaded guilty to war crimes, is segregated and awaiting sentencing.

— carol rosenberg, miamiherald, "Gitmo commanders make pitch for new prison with hospice-care wing for ex-CIA captives," 6 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'segregate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

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.

Origin and Etymology of segregate

Latin segregatus, past participle of segregare, from se- apart + greg-, grex herd — more at secede

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1542

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

segregate Synonyms

segregate

noun seg·re·gate \ ˈse-gri-gət , -ˌgāt \

Definition of segregate

: one that is in some respect segregated; especially : one that differs genetically from the parental line because of genetic segregation

Recent Examples of segregate from the Web

Other sensitive data, including family trees and DNA data, are stored on segregate systems that are separate from those that house email addresses.

— kirsten korosec, Fortune, "Ancestry Site MyHeritage Says 92 Million User Accounts Have Been Compromised," 5 June 2018
As public schools re-segregate, the rise in charter schools has not helped this trend.

— lincoln anthony blades, Teen Vogue, "Why Brown v Board of Education Is More Important Than Ever," 17 May 2018
There is also another cultural trend that has led many in our nation to ideologically self-segregate, not based on race, but based on ideology.

— james lankford, National Review, "The Best Approach To Racism: Engage Each Other," 19 Aug. 2017

First Known Use of segregate

1871

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

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SEGREGATE Defined for English Language Learners

segregate

verb

Definition of segregate for English Language Learners

: to separate groups of people because of their particular race, religion, etc.
: to not allow people of different races to be together in (a place, such as a school)

SEGREGATE Defined for Kids

segregate

verb seg·re·gate \ ˈse-gri-ˌgāt \

Definition of segregate for Students

segregated; segregating

: to separate a race, class, or group from the rest of society

Word Root of segregate

The Latin word grex, meaning “flock,”and its form gregis give us the root greg. Words from the Latin grex have something to do with flocks or groups. Anyone gregarious, or social, enjoys being part of the flock. To congregate is to gather as a flock or crowd. To segregate is to separate away from others or away from the flock.