What does desegregate mean?
Desegregate is a verb meaning to bring an end to the enforced separation of different racial, religious, or ethnic groups within a shared space or institution. Where segregation imposes divisions — separate schools, buses, restrooms, neighborhoods — desegregation removes them, allowing people of all backgrounds to study, live, work, and gather together. The word rose to prominence during the American civil-rights movement, when federal courts ordered Southern states to desegregate their public schools following the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. Today it remains central to discussions of education, housing, and social justice, appearing frequently in phrases like 'desegregate schools' or 'court-ordered desegregation.' Formed by attaching the reversal prefix 'de-' to 'segregate,' which itself derives from the Latin greg-, meaning flock or herd, the word literally suggests releasing people from a separated group. Its connotations are strongly positive in modern usage, associated with equality, inclusion, and legal progress toward integration.
verbTo end the policy or practice of enforcing the separation of people of different races, religions, or ethnic groups in shared spaces, institutions, or services; to remove barriers that keep such groups apart.
- To eliminate racial, religious, or ethnic separation in a school, neighborhood, organization, or public facility.
- More broadly, to remove any enforced division that keeps distinct groups apart.
"The school board voted to desegregate its classrooms in 1957, admitting Black students for the first time."
"Federal troops were sent in 1957 to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas."
"Advocacy groups continue to push the city to desegregate its housing market."
The word 'desegregate' was born in America's civil-rights era — it exists because 'segregate' needed an undo button.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of desegregate
Desegregate was formed in English by adding the reversal prefix de- to 'segregate,' which comes from the Latin segregare, 'to set apart from the flock,' from grex (stem greg-), meaning herd or flock. The verb emerged in American English during the early twentieth century as debates over racial separation intensified, becoming especially prominent from the 1940s onward alongside the civil-rights movement. It shares the same Latin root with words such as 'gregarious,' 'aggregate,' and 'congregation.'
Related word forms
How desegregate is actually used
The word carries strong historical and moral weight, being closely tied to the American civil-rights movement and mid-twentieth-century legal battles over race. It is standard in formal journalism, history, and law; the noun form 'desegregation' often appears in phrases such as 'court-ordered desegregation' or 'busing for desegregation.'
Easily confused with desegregate
To segregate is to impose separation between groups, while to desegregate is to undo or remove that separation.