apart

UK/əˈpɑːt/US/əˈpɑɹt/

adverbA22 meanings Very common — you will meet it every day · #785 of 15,258neutral

Apart means separated by a distance, or into pieces. Stand apart, take it apart, worlds apart.

It does two jobs: distance between things, and separation into parts. Apart from means except for in British use and in addition to in some others, which occasionally causes real ambiguity. Worlds apart and poles apart are fixed phrases for total difference. Note that the word comes from a Latin phrase meaning to the side.

Definitions of apart

1adverbapartSeparated by a distance.A2
“Plant the tomato seedlings at least half a metre apart so they have room to grow.”
2adverbadverbInto pieces.A2
“The old chair fell apart when he sat on it.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

apart is a separation.

Where it comes from

Anglo-Norman a part comes from Latin ad partem, to the side. Part, partition and portion come from the same part.

Latin
ad partem — to the side
Anglo-Norman
a part
Middle English
apart
English, today
apart

From Middle English apart, aparte, a-part, a part, from Anglo-Norman a part, from Latin ad partem (“to the side”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

apart in the wild

Connected sets are sets that cannot be divided into two pieces that are far apart.
General topology
Precedent is a defining feature that sets common law systems apart from civil law systems.
Precedent
Each British Overseas Territory, apart from the British Indian Ocean Territory, also has its own Attorney General.
Law officers of the Crown
The disease may be difficult to tell apart from other illnesses, especially in the early stages.
Yellow fever
The first dose is recommended at six weeks of age with two additional doses four weeks apart, after which it is about 95% effective during childhood.
Diphtheria vaccine

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

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