separation

Etymology

Attested in the 15th Century C.E.; from Middle English separacioun, from Old French separacion, from Latin separatio, separationem. Morphologically separate + -ion

noun

1. The act of disuniting two or more things, or the condition of being separated.
2. The act or condition of two or more people being separated from one another.
   […] my longing for her was undiminished despite our months of near-complete separation. 2007, Mohsin Hamid, chapter 10, in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Orlando: Harcourt, page 141
3. The act or condition of a married couple living in separate homes while remaining legally married.
   ‘If he dares to refuse me a separation, I’ll have one in law—I can—and I hope this will be a warning to all girls who have seen this disgraceful exhibition.’ 1839, Charles Dickens, chapter 44, in Nicholas Nickleby
   […] she [knows] her great-aunt’s concern over her son Warren, his two divorces, and now Alice’s bitter separation from her husband, Ben. 1993, Carol Shields, chapter 8, in The Stone Diaries, Toronto: Vintage, published 1994, page 302
   1. (law) An agreement legalizing such an arrangement.
4. The place at which a division occurs.
   I was now on the separation of two vast water-sheds; behind me all the streams were bound for the Garonne and the Western Ocean; before me was the basin of the Rhone. 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Heart of the Country”, in Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes
5. An interval, gap or space that separates things or people.
   […] gentle friend, for love and courtesy Lie further off; in human modesty, Such separation as may well be said Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid, So far be distant; c. 1595, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, actII, scene2
6. An object that separates two spaces.
   [The orchard] was full of trees, it bloomed with flowers: a very high wall shut it out from the court, on one side; on the other, a beech avenue screened it from the lawn. At the bottom was a sunk fence; its sole separation from lonely fields: 1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 23, in Jane Eyre
7. (military) Departure from active duty, while not necessarily leaving the service entirely.