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detach

Pronunciation: /dɪˈtatʃ/
Translate detach | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of detach

verb

[with object]
  • 1disengage (something or part of something) and remove it:he detached the front lamp from its bracket figurativea willingness to detach comment from political allegiance
  • [no object] be easily removable:the screen detaches from the keyboard
  • 2 (detach oneself from) leave or separate oneself from (a group or place):a figure in brown detached itself from the shadows figurativethe newspaper detached itself from the political parties
  • (be detached) Military (of a group of soldiers or ships) be sent on a separate mission: our crew were detached to Tabuk for the exercise

Derivatives

detachability

noun

detachable

adjective

Origin:

late 16th century (in the sense 'discharge a gun'): from French détacher, earlier destacher, from des- (expressing reversal) + attacher 'attach'

Spelling help

The ending of detach should be spelled -ach.

detach in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of detach in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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