detach

English

Etymology

From Old French destachier, from the same root as attach; compare French détacher and Portuguese and Spanish destacar.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈtæt͡ʃ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /dəˈtæt͡ʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætʃ

Verb

detach (third-person singular simple present detaches, present participle detaching, simple past and past participle detached)

1. (transitive) To take apart from; to take off.

   to detach the tag from a newly purchased garment

2. (transitive, military) To separate for a special object or use.

   to detach a ship from a fleet, or a company from a regiment

3. (intransitive) To come off something.

   Now that the zipper has detached, my winter coat won't keep me very warm.

Synonyms

• (take apart from): disengage, unfasten; see also Thesaurus:disconnect or Thesaurus:deadhere
• (separate for a special object or use): allocate, earmark; see also Thesaurus:set apart
• (come off something): fall off

Antonyms

• attach

Derived terms

• detachable
• detachment

Translations

to take apart or take off

• Bulgarian: отделям (bg) (otdeljam), откачам (bg) (otkačam), отцепвам (bg) (otcepvam)
• Czech: odpojit
• Estonian: eraldama
• French: détacher (fr)

  Old French: deslier

• German: entfernen (de), ablösen (de), lösen (de), loslösen (de), abtrennen (de), herausnehmen (de), losmachen (de)
• Hungarian: elválaszt (hu), leválaszt (hu), szétválaszt (hu)
• Ido: des-ligar, detachar (io) (military)
• Latin: abiungō
• Maori: whakakaewa, wete, wehe, wehewehe
• Old English: ālīesan
• Old French: descupler
• Portuguese: destacar (pt)
• Romanian: a detașa (ro), dezlipi (ro)
• Russian: отделя́ть (ru) impf (otdeljátʹ), отдели́ть (ru) pf (otdelítʹ), отцепля́ть (ru) impf (otcepljátʹ), отцепи́ть (ru) pf (otcepítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: odspojiti
• Spanish: desacoplar (es)

Anagrams

• Cath ed, cathed, chated, hectad