noun
severance
SEV-er-uns/ˈsevərəns/
The ending of an established connection.
Destroying the returned access card marks the employee's severance from the workplace.
Etymology
“Pull apart” became separation from obligations as well as physical separation. Severance now names the ending of a tie or contract; its employment sense probably extended from legal use.
In context
There is no clean severance between housing policy and criminally [music] justice policy. They are intertwined.
More examples
- The agreement requires a severance of all business ties.
- Moving abroad does not mean a severance from family.
- The company offers severance pay to employees whose jobs are eliminated.
Forms
severance · severances
sever verb — To cut off or end a connection.
Similar words
- separation
- Emphasizes being apart, without necessarily ending an established relationship.
- termination
- Emphasizes an ending, especially of employment or a contract.
- rupture
- Suggests a sudden, often damaging break in a relationship.