What does desegregating mean?
Desegregating is the present participle of "desegregate," meaning to bring an end to the enforced separation of people along racial, ethnic, religious, or other lines. The term rose to prominence during the American civil rights movement, when courts ordered communities — most famously through Brown v. Board of Education (1954) — to stop operating racially separate schools, buses, restaurants, and neighborhoods. Desegregating an institution usually requires deliberate action: revising admissions policies, redrawing school attendance zones, or dismantling discriminatory laws, often under judicial supervision and frequently amid fierce resistance. Today the word retains that historical weight and is used almost always approvingly, signaling progress toward equality and inclusion. It applies chiefly to race relations in the United States but extends to any context where groups have been systematically kept apart. Related forms include the noun "desegregation" and the adjective "desegregated."
verb (present participle of desegregate)The act of ending the policy or practice of separating people by race, ethnicity, religion, or sex in institutions, schools, housing, or public facilities.
- Ending the enforced separation of people by race, especially in schools and other public institutions.
- More generally, removing any official or systematic separation of groups (by religion, sex, disability status, etc.).
"By patiently desegregating its schools over a decade, the district transformed both its classrooms and its community."
"The federal judge oversaw the painstaking work of desegregating the city's public schools."
"The armed forces began desegregating its units shortly after the Second World War."
The word 'desegregate' was coined only in the early 20th century — humanity practiced segregation for centuries before anyone needed a word for undoing it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of desegregating
Desegregating derives from the verb "desegregate," formed in early 20th-century American English from the prefix "de-" (indicating reversal) plus "segregate." "Segregate" itself comes from the Latin segregare, meaning to set apart from the flock, built on grex, gregis, meaning flock or herd — the same Latin root that gives us "gregarious," "aggregate," and "congregate." Thus the word literally conveys un-setting-apart, restoring people to a common group.
Related word forms
How desegregating is actually used
"Desegregating" is formal-to-neutral in register and carries strongly positive moral connotations in modern usage, tied historically to the American civil rights movement of the mid-20th century. It is most commonly applied to schools, but also to housing, the military, transportation, and sports. In British English it appears mainly in historical discussions of the United States rather than domestic contexts. Note that "desegregated" can function adjectivally ("a desegregated school"), whereas "desegregating" typically functions as a verb form or gerund.
Easily confused with desegregating
Desegregating means removing racial or social separation of people, while disaggregating means breaking statistical data down into smaller component categories.