Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Old French
Origin: a part 'to the side'


adverb, adjective
a‧part S3 W1

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.
The police try to keep rival supporters apart at all matches.
Joel stood apart from the group, frowning.

in different pieces

The whole thing comes apart so that you can clean it.
They took the engine apart to see what was wrong.


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

not at same time

two days/three weeks/five years etc apart
Our birthdays are exactly a month apart.


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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

joking apart

used to say that you want to say something seriously:
Joking apart, they did do quite a good job for us.

somebody/something apart

except for someone or something:
The car industry apart, most industries are now seeing an improvement in their economic performance.

set somebody/something apart

to make someone or something different from other people or things:
Her unusual lifestyle set her apart as a child.

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