severance Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)
    rift; falling out; break; breach; rupture.
    • they hoped to avoid a break in relations
  2. noun the act of severing
    severing.

WordNet


Sev"er*ance noun
Definitions
  1. The act of severing, or the state of being severed; partition; separation. Milman.
  2. (Law) The act of dividing; the singling or severing of two or more that join, or are joined, in one writ; the putting in several or separate pleas or answers by two or more disjointly; the destruction of the unity of interest in a joint estate. Bouvier.

Webster 1913