apart

I [[t]əpɑ͟ː(r)t[/t]] POSITIONS AND STATES

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(In addition to the uses shown below, apart is used in phrasal verbs such as `grow apart' and `take apart'.)

1) ADV: ADV after v, oft ADV from n When people or things are apart, they are some distance from each other.

He was standing a bit apart from the rest of us, watching us...

She saw Sheila standing some distance apart...

Ray and sister Renee lived just 25 miles apart from each other.

...regions that were too far apart to have any way of knowing about each other...

He was standing, feet apart.

2) ADV: ADV after v If two people or things move apart or are pulled apart, they move away from each other.

John and Isabelle moved apart, back into the sun...

He tried in vain to keep the two dogs apart before the neighbour intervened.

3) ADV: be ADV, ADV after v If two people are apart, they are no longer living together or spending time together, either permanently or just for a short time.

It was the first time Jane and I had been apart for more than a few days...

Mum and Dad live apart.

4) ADV: ADV after v If you take something apart, you separate it into the pieces that it is made of. If it comes or falls apart, its parts separate from each other.

When the clock stopped he took it apart, found what was wrong, and put the whole thing together again...

Many school buildings are unsafe, and some are falling apart.

5) ADV: ADV after v If something such as an organization or relationship falls apart, or if something tears it apart, it can no longer continue because it has serious difficulties.

Any manager knows that his company will start falling apart if his attention wanders...

Her marriage to film producer Michael Greenburg fell apart.

6) ADV: ADV after v, n ADV If something sets someone or something apart, it makes them different from other people or things.

What really sets Mr Thaksin apart is that he comes not from Southern China, but from northern Thailand...

Health spending tends to rise disproportionately as countries become richer; but even adjusting for this, America is a case apart.

7) ADJ: v-link amount ADJ, oft ADJ on n If people or groups are a long way apart on a particular topic or issue, they have completely different views and disagree about it.

Officials say they're so far apart on such a wide range of issues there's no telling how long the talks could drag on...

Their concept of a performance and our concept were miles apart.

8) PHRASE: V inflects, usu with brd-neg If you can't tell two people or things apart, they look exactly the same to you.

I can still only tell Mark and Dave apart by the colour of their shoes!...

Free range and battery eggs, boiled for four minutes, were hard to tell apart.

II [[t]əpɑ͟ː(r)t[/t]] INDICATING EXCEPTIONS AND FOCUSING

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1) PHR-PREP You use apart from when you are making an exception to a general statement.

The room was empty apart from one man seated beside the fire...

She was the only British competitor apart from Richard Meade.

Syn:

except for

2) ADV: n ADV You use apart when you are making an exception to a general statement.

This was, New York apart, the first American city I had ever been in where people actually lived downtown.

Syn:

excepted

3) PHR-PREP You use apart from to indicate that you are aware of one aspect of a situation, but that you are going to focus on another aspect.

Illiteracy threatens Britain's industrial performance. But, quite apart from that, the individual who can't read or write is unlikely to get a job...

There was always something to look forward to, apart from Rachel's visits.

4) ADV: n ADV You use apart to indicate that you are aware of one aspect of a situation, but that you are going to focus on another aspect.

That argument apart, it is for the Germans themselves to work out how their forces should come together.

Syn:

aside