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separatism

noun

Simple meaning

Treating members of different societal groups in a politically, legally, or economically different way.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sehperuhtihzuhm

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɛpɚətɪzəm

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The practice of treating members of different societal groups in a politically, legally, or economically different manner.

  2. A theory or doctrine which supports a state of separation between organizations, institutions, or other societal groups (e.g. between church and state) or between different political jurisdictions (e.g. a country and its former colony).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The practice of treating members of different societal groups in a politically, legally, or economically different manner.

Used this way, separatism is a specialist word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Gentle
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Economical and restrained
Usage feel
Clinical and detached

Where it naturally appears

  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use separatism

  • “Separatism is a serious problem in Quebec.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Theory / practice

ethnic separatismpolitical separatismnational separatism

Other combinations

black separatismmuslim separatismracial separatismcultural separatismlesbian separatism

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • separatornounPerson or profession · specialist

    An apparatus that uses centrifugal force to separate particles from a suspension.

  • separatistnounPerson or profession

    An advocate of secession or separation from a larger group (such as an established church or a national union).

  • separatelyadverbDerived adverb

    Apart from others.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • white separatismnounCompound term

    A social system in which white people live separately from members of other races.

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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.