separation

Everyday

1. Separation is moving things apart or keeping them apart. tree →
2. Separation is the space or distance between things. tree →
3. Separation is a time when people are apart, especially when parents stop living together. tree →
4. In science, separation is splitting a mixture into its parts, by filtering, sieving or evaporating. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons separation of mixtures: sand and water by filtering, salt from water by evaporation, iron filings with a magnet. In family life, a parents' separation. Phrases: separation of mixtures, separation anxiety, legal separation.

Examples

• Filtering is a method of separation. tree →
• We used a magnet for separation of iron and sand. tree →
• After their separation, my parents live in two houses. tree →
• Puppies can get upset by separation from their mum. tree →
• Keep a separation of two metres. tree →
• The separation of salt from water needs heat. tree →
• Separation anxiety made the toddler cry when Mum left. tree →
• Sieving is used for the separation of rice and flour. tree →
• Thus passed the first miles; and then the Raven bade her farewell, and this was the most painful separation of all. tree →

Note

Spelling trap: sep-a-ration (a, not e: "there's a rat in separate"). Verb: separate. Separation of parents is not divorce, though it can come before it.

In Jewish tradition

A dividing line or wall. In Ezekiel's vision the wall separates what is holy from what is ordinary.

Interpretation. The tradition values separating holy from common, as in Havdalah and priestly law, and reads Ezekiel's Temple wall as guarding this holiness.

Examples

• He measured it by the four sides; it had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common. (Prophets EZK.42.20, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Spelling trap: sep-a-ration (a, not e: "there's a rat in separate"). Verb: separate. Separation of parents is not divorce, though it can come before it.