noun

• 1The action of leaving or being separated from someone.

  ‘they exchanged a few words on parting’

  More example sentences

  • ‘an emotional parting from her two young children’
  • ‘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.’
  • ‘Walking through the garden afterwards, she felt the usual feeling on their parting, fear and longing.’
  • ‘So when feeling dies, love dies, and relationships disintegrate and divorce or parting is the next step.’
  • ‘We are very attached to our tatty old dory, however; parting will be quite hard when the time comes.’
  • ‘This story of parting manages to be poignant and pretty yet not cloying and the rhythm will move you as much as the words.’
  • ‘Edna dear, there is no parting from those we love, no distance can divide, for today in memory's garden, we will walk side-by-side.’

  Synonyms

  farewell, leave-taking, goodbye, adieu, departure, leaving, going, going away

  separation, break-up, splitting up, split, split-up, breaking up, divorce, rift, breach, parting of the ways, estrangement, rupture

  View synonyms

• 2The action of dividing something into parts.

  ‘the parting of the Red Sea’

  More example sentences

  • ‘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.’
  • ‘I tried it, sort of expecting a parting of the Red Sea.’
  • ‘The chief appeared with a dramatic parting of tent-flaps.’
  • ‘From there came the years in Egypt, ending when Moses brought forth the plagues to convince Pharaoh to let his people go, and the parting of the Red Sea.’
  • ‘In Part Three, Cusick pointedly refers to Exodus when he compares the crossing of the Mississippi on a vine that breaks to the parting of the Red Sea.’
  • ‘She wondered if she would be less devastated if she hadn't witnessed the parting of her father's soul, but couldn't find a definite answer.’
  • ‘I suddenly believed all those Biblical stories that I had learned as a child, such as the Flood and the parting of the Red Sea, were true.’
  • ‘Like the parting of the Red Sea, the crowd parted for the Boom-Boom Kitty vehicles, allowing them access to the alien vehicle.’
  • ‘Londoners tend to scurry outside at the slightest hint of sunshine, so feel free to look for a parting of the clouds and mention how lovely it is.’
  • ‘Much similar to the parting of the Red Sea, the white cloud split into two as the mad scientist confidently strolled out of it.’
  • ‘The centerpiece is the parting of the Red Sea and its subsequent disposal of Rameses's guards and chariots.’
  • ‘Remember the parting of the Red Sea, along with so many other interventions which led to the Exodus from Egypt.’
  • ‘With the parting of the heated wire, both ends of the cutoff are identical and slightly rounded.’
  • ‘It was the parting of the seas, with Jocelyn in the middle of the forming path.’
  • ‘Only grand events of martyrhood, bloody deaths, crusades, sea partings, and other jejune items could evoke faith, could tease belief from the listless and fickle populace.’

  Synonyms

  division, dividing, separation, separating, splitting, breaking apart, breaking up, severance, disjoining, detachment, partition, partitioning

  View synonyms

• 3British count noun A line of scalp revealed in a person's hair by combing the hair away in opposite directions on either side.

  North American term part (sense 6 of the noun)

  ‘his hair was dark, with a side parting’

  More example sentences

  • ‘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.’
  • ‘Make a triangular diagonal parting from the top of the head to just the middle of the ear.’
  • ‘Owner of the nicest hair cut and the sharpest parting in the Premiership, the Russian is nothing special and has struggled to hold down a regular place.’
  • ‘His blond hair with its strange, upwards-aiming parting, accents his extremely pale skin, which has the appearance of being even paler than usual.’
  • ‘Her grey hair fell in a combed central parting to her earlobes, from which pearl ear rings hung.’
  • ‘They soon discover that not all Londoners have side partings and that litter and graffiti and distressed denim does exist in the capital.’
  • ‘I am amused by the attack on the book's statement about the use of vermilion in the hair partings of female terracottas in very early contexts in Baluchistan.’
  • ‘At a recent public appearance, he directed all the waiters to get new haircuts with neat side partings, the women were instructed to wear black dresses and the only thing he would eat was caviar.’
  • ‘‘For those lucky enough to have an oval face, like Cat Deeley, pretty much anything goes but especially flattering for slightly longer faces are off centre partings with a flick to one side,’ he adds.’
  • ‘Think strong centre partings and a high-shine finish.’
  • ‘But those fiddly, pretty styles involving clips and partings everywhere are beyond me.’