split up

See also: split-up

English

Pronunciation

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• Audio (Australia):

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Verb

split up (third-person singular simple present splits up, present participle splitting up, simple past and past participle split up)

1. (intransitive, of a group of people) To be divided into smaller groups or separate individuals, especially to go in different directions.

   The soldiers split up into smaller squadrons to search the building.

   For this activity, everyone needs to split up into pairs.

2. (intransitive, of a romantic couple) To cease to be in a relationship or marriage.

   Synonyms: separate, split, break up

   After she left to go travelling, my girlfriend and I split up.

   • 2017 July 5, Katrina Clarke, “Divorce selfies, conscious uncoupling and the rise of the amicable divorce”, in CBC News‎^[1], archived from the original on 4 December 2023:

     Corinne Krepel-Bernatt and her then-husband, Adam, were in their 40s, together for half their lives, parents to two young kids, when they realized they were great friends but not in love. They split up in 2013, but that didn't stop them from remaining friends or devoted parents – a hard-fought outcome she encourages all parents to work toward.

3. (transitive) To separate two or more people.

   The brothers never behaved in class when they were together, so we had to split them up for the exam.

4. (transitive) To divide into smaller parts.

   Synonyms: split, break up, break down

   Let's split the project up into bite-sized tasks.

Translations

to be divided into smaller groups

• Esperanto: disiĝi (eo)
• Finnish: hajaantua (fi)
• Italian: dividersi (it)
• Spanish: separarse

to cease to be in a relationship — see break up

to separate two or more people

• Finnish: erottaa (fi)
• Spanish: separar

to divide into smaller parts

• Finnish: jakaa (fi), pilkkoa (fi)
• Spanish: dividir

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Māori: ^{(please verify)} whakawāwāhi
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} ayrılmak (tr), dağılmak (tr), ayırmak (tr)

Adjective

split up (not comparable)

1. Divided or separated.
2. (slang, obsolete) Of a person: having long legs.
   • 1913, S. A. Mussabini, Charles Ranson, The Complete Athletic Trainer, page 17:

     He should preferably be tall, weighty, well split up in the legs (especially from the hip-joint to the knee), neatly turned at the knee and ankle joints […]

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873), The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams

• pulpits