desegregate
verb
de·seg·re·gate
| \ (ˌ)dē-ˈse-gri-ˌgāt
\
\
desegregated;
desegregating;
desegregates
Definition of desegregate
: to eliminate segregation in
specifically
: to free of any law, provision, or practice requiring isolation of the members of a particular race in separate units
: to become desegregated
Examples of desegregate in a Sentence
efforts to desegregate the town's buses
Eventually the city's schools desegregated.
Recent Examples on the Web
The Montford camp was decommissioned in 1949 when President Harry Truman desegregated the armed forces. — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, "One of nation’s first black Marines to be honored in Oceanside," 18 Aug. 2019 Elsewhere around the country attempts to desegregate lunch counters were inciting riots. — Elaine Ayala, ExpressNews.com, "Tourists flock to corner across the Alamo and fail to see the history there," 30 July 2019 Paige became the oldest rookie in MLB history at 42 after the league was desegregated. — Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY, "Top 16 athletes over 35 of all-time: From Tom Brady to Serena Williams to Gordie Howe," 17 July 2019 The last debates also saw a heated exchange between Harris and former vice president Joe Biden on using busing to desegregate schools, which created a national conversation on the effectiveness of the policy. — Alissa Walker, Curbed, "Will the candidates talk housing, transportation at the next Democratic debates?," 30 July 2019 This allowed schools in the North to maintain racially separate schools at the same time southern schools were being ordered by the courts to desegregate. — Jon Hale, The Conversation, "The Supreme Court decision that kept suburban schools segregated," 24 July 2019 Joe Biden's campaign announced that Bottoms had endorsed the former vice president in late June, as controversy about his record on busing as a means of desegregating schools loomed. — NBC News, "Black women mayors: A rising force in major American cities," 8 July 2019 That put him in line with prevailing public opinion at the time: A 1973 Gallup poll found just 5 percent believed busing was the best means to desegregate public schools — and only 9 percent of African-Americans were in favor. — Casey Tolan, The Mercury News, "How Kamala Harris’ experience in Berkeley’s busing program shaped her life — and changed the presidential race," 28 June 2019 Harris slammed Biden during the first debates , blasting the segregationist comment and criticizing his opposition to federal busing orders to desegregate public schools during the same era. — Bill Barrow, chicagotribune.com, "Joe Biden is aggressively defending Obamacare — even against Democrats," 15 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'desegregate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for desegregate
desegregate
verb
English Language Learners Definition of desegregate
: to end a policy that keeps people of different races apart : to end a policy of segregation
See the full definition for desegregate in the English Language Learners Dictionary
desegregate
verb
de·seg·re·gate
| \ dē-ˈse-gri-ˌgāt
\
\
desegregated;
desegregating
Kids Definition of desegregate
: to end by law the separation of members of different races
desegregate schools
desegregate
transitive verb
de·seg·re·gate
| \ dē-ˈse-grə-ˌgāt
\
\
desegregated;
desegregating
Legal Definition of desegregate
: to eliminate segregation in
specifically
: to free from any law, provision, or practice requiring isolation of the members of a particular race in separate units
: to become desegregated