noun
segregation
sehg-ruh-GAY-shuhn
noun
1
The enforced separation of people into different groups, especially by race, and the denial of equal treatment that goes with it.
"The civil rights movement fought to end segregation in the United States."
"Segregation laws once barred Black citizens from many public spaces."
2
The act of keeping things or people apart and organized into separate groups.
"The prison uses segregation to keep certain inmates away from the general population."
3
In genetics, the process by which paired versions of a gene separate so each parent passes on only one copy to their offspring.
"Mendel's law of segregation explains how traits are passed to offspring."
How to Use Segregation
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe forced separation of groups of people, most often associated with racial injustice; also a general term in genetics and other fields for separating things out.
Common pairings
racial segregation
end segregation
genetic segregation
Word Forms
segregations plural
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Etymology
Recorded from 1555, from Latin segregatio, built from segregate plus -ion.