segregation
noun
Simple meaning
The separation of people into different categories which occurs due to social forces.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sehgruhgayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
sɛɡɹəˈɡeɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
sociology
The separation of people (geographically, residentially, or in businesses, public transit, etc) into various categories which occurs due to social forces (culture, etc).
The act of setting apart and organizing things based upon their characteristics.
politics
The separation of people based upon race, sex, religion, or other identity in institutions.
politicspublic policy
The separation of people (geographically, residentially, or in businesses, public transit, etc) into racial or other categories (e.g. religion, sex).
Separation for practical reasons, by necessity.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (sociology) The separation of people (geographically, residentially, or in businesses, public transit, etc) into various categories which occurs due to social forces (culture, etc).
Used this way, segregation is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is used where position and measurement matter — travel, weather and flight — so it reads as factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Geography/travel
- Weather/aviation
- Technical/specialist writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use segregation
- “Many countries outlawed segregation to ensure equal rights for all citizens.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Separation / setting
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Segregation by race.
Segregation (especially in schools) that happens in fact although not required by law.
The traditional Hindu or Muslim system of keeping women secluded.
Segregation that is imposed by law.
Members of a pair of homologous chromosomes separate during the formation of gametes and are distributed to different gametes so that every gamete receives only one member of the pair.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.