When I met my husband, we were in college, and he was a better dancer, funnier, and friendlier than me. So one of the things I had to fall back on was my brains. I liked to say that I was smarter than him, and that worked for a while until the day I misspelled this word…
The correct spelling is: SEPARATE
The common misspelling is: SEPERATE
Here are definitions:
adjective
forming or viewed as a unit apart or by itself : this raises two separate issues | he regards the study of literature as quite separate from life.
• not joined or touching physically : hostels with separate quarters for men and women.
• different; distinct : melt the white and dark chocolate in separate bowls.
verb
1 [ trans. ] cause to move or be apart : police were trying to separate two rioting mobs | they were separated by the war.
• form a distinction or boundary between (people, places, or things) : only a footpath separated their garden from the shore | six years separated the two brothers.
• [ intrans. ] become detached or disconnected : the second stage of the rocket failed to separate.
• [ intrans. ] leave another person’s company : they separated at the corner, agreeing to meet within two hours.
• [ intrans. ] stop living together as a couple : after her parents separated, she was brought up by her mother | [as adj. ] ( separated) her parents are separated.
• (often be separated) discharge or dismiss (someone) from service or employment : this year one million veterans will be separated from the service.
2 divide or cause to divide into constituent or distinct elements : [ intrans. ] the milk had separated into curds and whey | [ trans. ] separate the eggs and beat the yolks.
• [ trans. ] extract or remove for use or rejection : the skins are separated from the juice before fermentation | figurative we need to separate fact from speculation.
• [ trans. ] distinguish between; consider individually : we cannot separate his thinking from his activity.
• (of a factor or quality) distinguish (someone or something) from others : his position separates him from those who might share his interests.
• [ trans. ] ( separate something off) make something form, or view something as, a unit apart or by itself : the organ loft separating off the choir.
noun | ( separates)
things forming units by themselves, in particular
• individual items of clothing, such as skirts, jackets, or pants, suitable for wearing in different combinations.
• the self-contained, freestanding components of a sound-reproduction system.
• portions into which a soil, sediment, etc., can be sorted according to particle size, mineral composition, or other criteria.
PHRASES
go one’s separate ways leave in a different direction from someone with whom one has just traveled or spent time. • end a romantic, professional, or other relationship.
separate but equal historical racially segregated but ostensibly ensuring equal opportunities to all races.
separate the men from the boys see man .
separate the sheep from the goats divide people or things into superior and inferior groups. [ORIGIN: with biblical allusion to Matt. 25:33.]
separate the wheat from the chaff see chaff 1 .
DERIVATIVES
separately | adverb
separateness | noun
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin separat- ‘disjoined, divided,’ from the verb separare, from se- ‘apart’ + parare ‘prepare.’
*Source from Wikitionary
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Hi, I'm Lisa Angelettie and I'm a wife, mom, & article marketing evangelist! I make a great living writing articles & infoproducts and coaching others on how to do the same.Read more of my story at: 
