severance

Other forms of severance

plural

severances·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about severance

What does severance mean?

severance means "a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in severance?

severance has 3 syllables: sev-e-rance. The stress falls on "sev". In IPA it is /ˈsɛˌvɝəns/.

What is another word for severance?

Close synonyms include rupture, breach, break, rift, falling out. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is severance a common word?

severance is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.