segregation

3 definitions • 6 examples

the policy of keeping one group of people apart from another and treating them differently, especially because of race, sex, or religion:

The system of racial segregation that used to exist in South Africa was called apartheid.

The community fought to end segregation in schools and housing.

the segregation of employment by gender

the act of keeping one person or thing separate from another person or thing:

the segregation of the healthy from the sick

the separation of pairs of alleles (= different forms of the same gene) during meiosis (= the cell division that happens as part of the process of producing young animals or plants) so that they pass separately to separate gametes (= reproductive cells):

Mendel's first law states that genes do not blend, but pass intact from one generation to the next, after segregation.

Fertilization triggers segregation of chromosomes.