detach

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

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætʃ

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

   • 1994, David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars, Harcourt Brace, →ISBN:

     The accused man, Kabuo Miyamoto, sat proudly upright with a rigid grace, his palms placed softly on the defendant's table—the posture of a man who has detached himself insofar as this is possible at his own trial.

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.

• (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

• attach

• Cath ed, cathed, chated, hectad