Sever

//ˈsɛv.ɚ// verb

verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To cut free. transitive

    "After he graduated, he severed all links to his family."

  2. 2
    cut off from a whole wordnet
  3. 3
    To suffer disjunction; to be parted or separated. intransitive

    "No more can I be seuered from your side"

  4. 4
    set or keep apart wordnet
  5. 5
    To make a separation or distinction; to distinguish. intransitive

    "The Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt."

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    To disconnect; to disunite; to terminate.

    "sever an estate in joint tenancy"

Example

More examples

"If you're not careful, the dog will sever the head of your doll."

Etymology

From Middle English severen, from Old French sevrer, from Latin separāre (“to separate”), from se- (“apart”) + parāre (“provide, arrange”). Doublet of separate, from the past participle of that Latin verb.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.