1.  separation(n = noun.state) - the state of lacking unity;
is a kind of state
has particulars: discreteness, distinctness, separateness, severalty, isolation, discontinuity, disconnectedness, disconnection, disjunction, disjuncture, disassociation
Antonym: union

2.  separation(n = noun.event) breakup, detachment - coming apart;
is a kind of alteration, change, modification
has particulars: breach, break, falling out, rift, rupture, severance, break
Derived form verb separate₁₂

3.  separation(n = noun.attribute) interval - the distance between things; "fragile items require separation and cushioning"
is a kind of distance
has particulars: clearance

4.  separation(n = noun.act) - sorting one thing from others; "the separation of wheat from chaff"; "the separation of mail by postal zones"
is a kind of sorting
has particulars: threshing, sifting, winnow, winnowing
Derived form verb separate₅

5.  separation(n = noun.act) - the social act of separating or parting company; "the separation of church and state"
is a kind of group action
has particulars: divorce, divorcement, seclusion, closing off, isolation, segregation, sequestration, separationism, separatism
Derived form verb separate₉

6.  separation(n = noun.location) - the space where a division or parting occurs; "he hid in the separation between walls"
is a kind of space

7.  separation(n = noun.event) - the termination of employment (by resignation or dismissal);
is a kind of final result, outcome, result, resultant, termination

8.  separation(n = noun.act) legal separation - (law) the cessation of cohabitation of man and wife (either by mutual agreement or under a court order);
is a kind of cessation, surcease
Derived form verb separate₈

9.  separation(n = noun.act) - the act of dividing or disconnecting;
is a kind of change of integrity
has particulars: avulsion, dissociation, secession, withdrawal, disunion, disconnection, disjunction, division, detachment, disengagement, tear, remotion, removal, division, partition, partitioning, sectionalisation, sectionalization, segmentation, divergence, divergency, withdrawal, secession
Derived form verb separate₂

   The act of separating, or the state of being separated, or separate. [1913 Webster]

separation, n.
1 the act or an instance of separating; the state of being separated.
2 (in full judicial separation or legal separation) an arrangement by which a husband and wife remain married but live apart.
3 any of three or more monochrome reproductions of a coloured picture which can combine to reproduce the full colour of the original.

Idiom:
separation order an order of court for judicial separation.

Etymology:
ME f. OF f. L separatio -onis (as SEPARATE)

N  disjunction, disconnection, disunity, disunion, disassociation, disengagement, discontinuity, abjunction, cataclasm, inconnection, abstraction, abstractedness, isolation, insularity, insulation, oasis, island, separateness, severalty, disjecta membra, dispersion, apportionment, separation, parting, circumcision, detachment, segregation, divorce, sejunction, seposition, diduction, diremption, discerption, elision, caesura, break, fracture, division, subdivision, rupture, compartition, dismemberment, dislocation, luxation, severance, disseverance, scission, rescission, abscission, laceration, dilaceration, disruption, abruption, avulsion, divulsion, section, resection, cleavage, fission, partibility, separability, fissure, breach, rent, split, rift, crack, slit, incision, dissection anatomy, decomposition, cutting instrument, buzzsaw, circular saw, rip saw, separatist, disjoined, discontinuous, multipartite, abstract, disjunctive, secant, isolated, insular, separate, disparate, discrete, apart, asunder, far between, loose, free, unattached, unannexed, unassociated, unconnected, distinct, adrift, straggling, rift, reft, scissile, divisible, discerptible, partible, separable, separately, one by one, severally, apart, adrift, asunder, in twain, in the abstract, abstractedly.

N  exclusion, nonadmission, omission, exception, rejection, repudiation, exile, noninclusion, preclusion, prohibition, separation, segregation, seposition, elimination, expulsion, cofferdam, excluding, exclusive, excluded, unrecounted, not included in, inadmissible, exclusive of, barring, except, with the exception of, save, bating, exclusion, seclusion, exclusion, seclusion, privacy, retirement, reclusion, recess, snugness, delitescence, rustication, rus in urbe, solitude, solitariness, isolation, loneliness, estrangement from the world, voluntary exile, aloofness, cell, hermitage, convent, sanctum sanctorum, depopulation, desertion, desolation, wilderness, howling wilderness, rotten borough, Old Sarum, exclusion, excommunication, banishment, exile, ostracism, proscription, cut, cut direct, dead cut, inhospitality, inhospitableness, dissociability, domesticity, Darby and Joan, recluse, hermit, eremite, cenobite, anchoret, anchorite, Simon Stylites, troglodyte, Timon of Athens, Santon, solitaire, ruralist, disciple of Zimmermann, closet cynic, Diogenes, outcast, Pariah, castaway, pilgarlic, wastrel, foundling, wilding, secluded, sequestered, retired, delitescent, private, bye, out of the world, out of the way, the world forgetting by the world forgot, snug, domestic, stay-at-home, unsociable, unsocial, dissocial, inhospitable, cynical, inconversable, unclubbable, sauvage, troglodytic, solitary, lonely, lonesome, isolated, single, estranged, unfrequented, uninhabitable, uninhabited, tenantless, abandoned, deserted, deserted in one's utmost need, unfriended, kithless, friendless, homeless, lorn, forlorn, desolate, unvisited, unintroduced, uninvited, unwelcome, under a cloud, left to shift for oneself, derelict, outcast, banished, noli me tangere, among them but not of them, and homeless near a thousand homes I stood, far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, makes a solitude and calls it peace, magna civitas magna solitudo, never less alone than when alone, O sacred solitude! divine retreat!.

N  interval, interspace, separation, break, gap, opening, hole, chasm, hiatus, caesura, interruption, interregnum, interstice, lacuna, cleft, mesh, crevice, chink, rime, creek, cranny, crack, chap, slit, fissure, scissure, rift, flaw, breach, rent, gash, cut, leak, dike, ha-ha, gorge, defile, ravine, canon, crevasse, abyss, abysm, gulf, inlet, frith, strait, gully, pass, furrow, abra, barranca, barranco, clove, gulch, notch, yawning gulf, hiatus maxime, hiatus valde deflendus, parenthesis, void, incompleteness, period, interim (time), with an interval, far between, breachy, rimose, rimulose, at intervals, longo intervallo.

N  divorce, divorcement, separation, judicial separation, separate maintenance, separatio a mensa et thoro, separatio a vinculo matrimonii, trial separation, breakup, annulment, widowhood, viduity, weeds, widow, widower, relict, dowager, divorcee, cuckold, grass widow, grass widower, merry widow.

N  divergence, divergency, divarication, ramification, forking, radiation, separation, dispersion, deviation, aberration, diverging, divergent, radiant, centrifugal, aberrant.

grade separation, judicial separation, legal separation, separation energy