apart

a|part

W1S3 [əˈpa:t US -a:rt] adv, adj

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1¦(not close/touching)¦

2¦(in different pieces)¦

3¦(separate)¦

4¦(not at same time)¦

5¦(people)¦

6 fall apart

7 be torn apart

8 be worlds/poles apart

9 grow/drift apart

10 joking apart

11 somebody/something apart

12 set somebody/something apart

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[Date: 1300-1400; : Old French; Origin: a part 'to the side']

1.) ¦(NOT CLOSE/TOUCHING)¦

if things are apart, they are not close to each other or touching each other

two miles/six feet etc apart

▪ Place the two posts 6 metres apart.

▪ They have offices in countries as far apart as India and Peru.

▪ The police try to keep rival supporters apart at all matches.

▪ A couple of men started fighting and we had to pull them apart .

▪ Joel stood apart from the group, frowning.

2.) ¦(IN DIFFERENT PIECES)¦

if something comes apart, or you take it apart, it is separated into different pieces

▪ The whole thing comes apart so that you can clean it.

▪ They took the engine apart to see what was wrong.

3.) ¦(SEPARATE)¦

if you keep things apart, you keep them separate from each other

▪ I try to keep my work and private life as far apart as possible.

4.) ¦(NOT AT SAME TIME)¦

if things are a particular time apart, they do not happen at the same time but have that much time between them

two days/three weeks/five years etc apart

▪ Our birthdays are exactly a month apart.

5.) ¦(PEOPLE)¦

if people are apart, they are not together in the same place, or not having a relationship with each other

▪ The children have never been apart before.

▪ My wife and I are living apart at the moment.

apart from

▪ He's never been apart from his mother.

6.) fall apart

a) if something falls apart, it breaks into different pieces

▪ It just fell apart in my hands!

b) if something is falling apart, it is in very bad condition

▪ He drives around in an old car that's falling apart.

c) if something falls apart, it fails completely

▪ He lost his job and his marriage fell apart.

▪ The country's economy is in danger of falling apart.

7.) be torn apart

if a marriage, family etc is torn apart, it can no longer continue because of serious difficulties

▪ The play portrays a good marriage torn apart by external forces.

8.) be worlds/poles apart

if people, beliefs, or ideas are worlds or poles apart, they are completely different from each other

▪ I realized we were still worlds apart.

9.) grow/drift apart

if people drift or grow apart, their relationship slowly becomes less close

▪ Lewis and his father drifted apart after he moved to New York.

10.) joking apart

used to say that you want to say something seriously

▪ Joking apart, they did do quite a good job for us.

11.) sb/sth apart

except for someone or something

▪ The car industry apart, most industries are now seeing an improvement in their economic performance.

12.) set sb/sth apart

to make someone or something different from other people or things

▪ Her unusual lifestyle set her apart as a child.