parting
/ˈpɑːtɪŋ
/noun [mass noun]
1The action of leaving or being separated from someone: they exchanged a few words on parting [count noun]: the wrench of her parting from Stephen...
- In the story of this passion, too, the development varies: sometimes it is the glorious marriage, sometimes frustration and final parting.
- For a couple embarking on a serious relationship, discussion of the terms to apply at parting is almost a contradiction of the shared hopes that have brought them together.
- In the film Oliver's attempt to get Fagin to pray is overwhelmed by the emotional intensity of Fagin's sense of parting from the young orphan he took in.
Synonyms
farewell, leave-taking, goodbye, adieu, departure, leaving, going (away);
valediction
2The action of dividing something into parts: the parting of the Red Sea...
- For the climax of Exodus is not found in the story of the departure from Egypt, nor in the death of the firstborn, nor in the parting of the Red Sea, nor in the giving of the law on Sinai.
- It was one o'clock, and I felt as if I had been up since the parting of the heavens and the earth.
- Science can comment usefully on such issues as the age of the Shroud of Turin, the parting of the Red Sea, or genetic studies of alleged lost tribes of Israel.
Synonyms
division, dividing, separation, separating, splitting, breaking up/apart, severance, disjoining, detachment, partition, partitioning
3British A line of scalp revealed in a person’s hair by combing the hair away in opposite directions on either side: his hair was dark, with a side parting...
- Sebastian Coe has been especially reanimated for the occasion and his side parting has been measured and angled precisely to meet IOC hairstyle guidelines.
- The decade that followed also marked the start of the ‘middle parting, pasted hair on both sides of the face’ sported by the saucy Sharmila Tagore.
- She had short, dark brown hair that reached her neck, and her parting was at the left side, so more hair curved over the right.
Phrases
parting of the ways