separate

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
separate

▶adjective /ˈsɛp(ə)rət/ forming or viewed as a unit apart or by itself; not joined or united with others.

■ different; distinct.

▶verb /ˈsɛpəreɪt/ 

• 1 move or come apart; make or become detached or disconnected.

  ■ stop living together as a couple.

  ■ US discharge or dismiss from service or employment.

• 2 divide into constituent or distinct elements.

  ■ extract or remove for use or rejection.

  ■ distinguish between or from another; consider individually.

• 3 form a distinction or boundary between.

▶plural noun (separates /ˈsɛp(ə)rəts/) things forming units by themselves, in particular individual items of clothing suitable for wearing in different combinations.

– derivatives
separately adverb,
separateness noun,
separative adjective,
separator noun.

– origin ME: from L. separat-, separare ‘disjoin, divide’, from se- ‘apart’ + parare ‘prepare’.