a‧part S2 W1 / əpɑt $ -ɑrt / 副词 , 形容词

1 not close/touching if things are apart, they are not close to each other or touching each other

two miles/six feet etc apart

Place the two posts 6 metres apart.

They have offices in countries as far apart as India and Peru.

The police try to keep rival supporters apart at all matches.

A couple of men started fighting and we had to pull them apart .

Joel stood apart from the group, frowning.

2 in different pieces if something comes apart, or you take it apart, it is separated into different pieces :

The whole thing comes apart so that you can clean it.

They took the engine apart to see what was wrong.

3 separate if you keep things apart, you keep them separate from each other :

I try to keep my work and private life as far apart as possible.

4 not at same time if things are a particular time apart, they do not happen at the same time but have that much time between them

two days/three weeks/five years etc apart

Our birthdays are exactly a month apart.

5 people if people are apart, they are not together in the same place, or not having a relationship with each other :

The children have never been apart before.

My wife and I are living apart at the moment.

apart from

He’s never been apart from his mother.

6 fall apart

a) if something falls apart, it breaks into different pieces :

It just fell apart in my hands!

b) if something is falling apart, it is in very bad condition :

He drives around in an old car that’s falling apart.

c) if something falls apart, it fails completely :

He lost his job and his marriage fell apart.

The country’s economy is in danger of falling apart.

7 be torn apart if a marriage, family etc is torn apart, it can no longer continue because of serious difficulties :

The play portrays a good marriage torn apart by external forces.

8 be worlds/poles apart if people, beliefs, or ideas are worlds or poles apart, they are completely different from each other :

I realized we were still worlds apart.

9 grow/drift apart if people drift or grow apart, their relationship slowly becomes less close :

Lewis and his father drifted apart after he moved to New York.

10 joking apart used to say that you want to say something seriously :

Joking apart, they did do quite a good job for us.

11 somebody/something apart except for someone or something :

The car industry apart, most industries are now seeing an improvement in their economic performance.

12 set somebody/something apart to make someone or something different from other people or things :

Her unusual lifestyle set her apart as a child.