Apart

Part of speech: adverb, adjective

Pronunciation: /əˈpɑːt/

Definitions

1. Separated by distance or positioned at a distance from each other
2. Placed or located with space between or at some distance from one another
3. Existing or arranged with a gap or interval separating objects or points

Etymology: "Apart" began as a phrase rather than a single word. Middle English speakers wrote it as two words, "a part" or "a parte," which meant "to one side" or "on one side," and it came into English from Anglo-Norman "a part," itself drawn from Latin "ad partem," literally "to the side." The Latin "pars," "part," is the same root that gives us "part" in its ordinary sense, so the idea of being set off to a side of something is built right into the word. The sense of physical separation grew naturally from that original meaning of "to one side." Once something has been moved to one side, it is no longer with the rest, and so "apart" came to describe objects standing with a gap between them. The adverb and adjective uses you see today follow directly from this spatial picture, and the spelling eventually fused into the single word we use now.

Synonyms: separate, divided, distant, away, isolated

Antonyms: together, connected, joined, close, unified