dictionary.

sep·a·rate [v. sep-uh-reyt; adj., n. sep-er-it] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, -rat·ed, -rat·ing, adjective, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to keep apart or divide, as by an intervening barrier or space: to separate two fields by a fence.
2. to put, bring, or force apart; part: to separate two fighting boys.
3. to set apart; disconnect; dissociate: to separate church and state.
4. to remove or sever from association, service, etc., esp. legally or formally: He was separated from the army right after V-E Day.
5. to sort, part, divide, or disperse (an assemblage, mass, compound, etc.), as into individual units, components, or elements.
6. to take by parting or dividing; extract (usually fol. by from or out): to separate metal from ore.
7. Mathematics. to write (the variables of a differential equation) in a form in which the differentials of the independent and dependent variables are, respectively, functions of these variables alone: We can separate the variables to solve the equation. Compare separation of variables.
–verb (used without object)
8. to part company; withdraw from personal association (often fol. by from): to separate from a church.
9. (of a married pair) to stop living together but without getting a divorce.
10. to draw or come apart; become divided, disconnected, or detached.
11. to become parted from a mass or compound: Cream separates from milk.
12. to take or go in different directions: We have to separate at the crossroad.