Blend and separate are opposites. Blend is to mix things into a smooth, uniform whole in which the parts can no longer be told apart. Separate is to move or keep things apart, or (as an adjective) to be distinct and unconnected. Blend dissolves things into one; separate holds them apart as distinct.
One erases the boundary between things; the other opens or keeps it. Blend mixes separate things until they become a single seamless whole — two colours make a third with no seam. Separate pulls things away from each other, or simply keeps them distinct with plain space between. You blend blue and yellow into green; you separate the yolk from the white. One makes the parts vanish into one; the other insists on the line between them.
blend
To blend is to mix things so thoroughly that they form one smooth, even whole with no visible join — flavours blend, colours blend, voices blend into harmony. From the Old Norse blanda, 'to mix'. Unlike things that merely combine and stay distinct, what blends loses its separate edge; and to blend in is to match your surroundings so closely you go unnoticed. A blend is also the noun for the result you can merge from parts kept in set proportions: a coffee blend, a blend of styles.
separate
To separate is to move things apart or to keep them apart — you separate two fighters, separate the yolk from the white, separate a class into groups. From the Latin separare, 'to disjoin'. Where you divide a whole into parts, to separate more often pulls already-distinct things away from each other, or sorts a mixture. As an adjective — and pronounced differently — separate means distinct or unconnected: three separate rooms, a separate issue. It is the quiet opposite of join.
| blend | separate | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | mix into a smooth, uniform whole | move or keep apart; be distinct |
| The parts | dissolve, can't be told apart | stay distinct, with space between |
| Direction | several into one seamless whole | apart, or held distinct |
| Often with | colours, flavours, sounds, styles | items, groups, the yolk, the sexes |
| Noun | a blend / blending | separation |
| Example | Blend the two colours. | Separate the two piles. |
Ask whether the line between things vanishes or stays. Blend erases it — several things mixed until one uniform whole is left, the parts gone. Separate keeps it — two magnets pulled apart until a clean gap stands between them, each still itself. If the parts dissolve into one, that is blend; if they are moved apart or kept distinct, they are separate.
blend
- iBlend the two colours until the seam disappears.
- iiThe film blends fact and fiction into one story.
- iiiNew staff soon blended into the team.
separate
- iSeparate the ripe fruit from the unripe before packing.
- iiThe two schools were kept separate for another decade.
- iiiSeparate the yolks from the whites.
Blend erases the parts into one uniform whole and is usually transitive; separate holds things apart and is both a verb (to part things) and an adjective (distinct, unconnected). Their figurative uses are opposite too: to blend in is to disappear into a group, while to keep separate is to stay distinct from it. Watch the spelling — separate has an 'a' in the middle.
A useful pair for descriptive and argument essays. Blend suits things merging into one — 'a style that blends East and West', 'blend the ingredients' — and, figuratively, fitting in unnoticed ('blend into the background'). Separate suits keeping things distinct — 'separate the waste', 'keep work and home separate'. Examiners note the register-neutral flexibility of both, and the spelling trap in separate (an 'a' in the middle). The nouns are a blend and separation; the adjective separate (SEP-rit) is distinct from the verb (SEP-uh-rayt).