Break up
Break up verb - To set or force apart.
Usage example: he broke up the rocks in the old stone wall with a crowbar, sending them tumbling to the ground
Separate
Separate verb - To set or force apart.
Usage example: we tried to separate the gluey pages, but they were stuck tight
Break up is a synonym for separate in split up topic. You can use "Break up" instead a verb "Separate", if it concerns topics such as part, assemble, isolate, part company in a romantic. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
Both terms in one sentence
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This caused them to break up and go their separate ways - but it still left Celia angry.
Source: Film / Tears of Steel -
Kathy then wanted to break up and not pursue a relationship with either because she felt it would separate them and would be too hard on all.
Source: Your Cheating Heart -
Vanilla departs on the Juniper Berry, leaving all his friends behind, and the Garland Globetrotters break up and go their separate ways.
Source: Video Game / Steambot Chronicles
Cite this Source
Separate and Break up. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/break_up/separate
Break up & Separate. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/break_up/separate>.
Separate or Break up. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/break_up/separate.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "break up" and "separate" have occurred on timeline