segregate
/ˈsɛɡɹəɡət/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.67 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To separate (races, sexes, or other groups, especially black and white people), especially by social policies that directly or indirectly keep them apart.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "One aim of the reorganisation on both routes is to segregate completely the operation of the District and Tilbury Lines between London and Upminster, removing physical connections between the two."
- "Throw me in cuffs, no chance of parole / Back in the house, thirty days in the hole / Segregate me from the local population, your love is, uh, incarceration"
- "Please segregate the pairs of shoes by size into their respective boxes."
- "Although the California State Supreme Court ended the official segregation of public schools in 1877, Sacramento continued to segregate well into the 1880s (Sacramento African American Historical and Cultural Society [SAAHCS] 1990:9, 20)."
- "Although some lunch counters continued to segregate well into 1965, despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter relented on July 25, 1960.26 Unwilling for the slow process of litigation in federal courts to work its way through[…]"
- "[…] the National Guard continued to segregate and practice racial discrimination; and black soldiers often found it difficult to obtain decent housing in surrounding communities."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *s(w)éder. Latin sē- Latin grex Proto-Italic *-āzi ▲ Latin -ereinflu. Latin -āre Latin gregō Latin sēgregō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin sēgregātusbor. English segregate From Latin sēgregātus, perfect passive participle of sēgregō (“to separate”), from sē- (“apart”) + gregō (“to flock or group”), from grex (“flock”). Compare gregarious, aggregate.
Usage
Inflected Forms
more segregate (comparative)
most segregate (superlative)
segregates (present, singular)
segregating (participle, present)
segregated (participle, past)
segregated (past)
segregates (plural)