Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To discern as separate; discriminate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To separate.
- To distinguish.
- In physiology, to secrete.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To separate; to distinguish.
- transitive verb (Physiol.) To secrete.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
discriminate ,distinguish - verb medicine To
secrete
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb mark as different
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Latin sēcernere, to sever : sē-, apart; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots + cernere, to separate; see krei- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Latin secerno ("to sever").
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word secern.
Examples
-
Now and again, one of them, flushed with triumph, would secern himself from his troupe, and would 'star' round the country for his livelihood.
Yet Again Max Beerbohm 1914
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.