Definition of "depart" in English

verb

1. (intransitive) To leave.

2. (intransitive) To set out on a journey.

3. (intransitive, euphemistic) To die.

4. (intransitive, figurative) To disappear, vanish; to cease to exist.

5. (intransitive) To deviate (from), be different (from), fail to conform.

   • His latest statements seemed to depart from party policy somewhat.
   • to depart from a title or defence in legal pleading
   • 1788, James Madison, “Number 39,” in Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison, The Federalist, On the New Constitution, Philadelphia: Benjamin Warner, 1818, p. 204, If the plan of the convention, therefore, be found to depart from the republican character, its advocates must abandon it as no longer defensible.

6. (transitive) To go away from; to leave.

   • The build-up to Saturday's visit of Macedonia and this encounter with the Dutch could be construed as odd in the sense that there seemed a basic acceptance, inevitability even, that Burley would depart office in their immediate aftermath.

7. (ambitransitive, aviation) To lose control of an aircraft; to "depart" (sense 5) from controlled flight (with the aircraft as the direct object)

   • The envelope protection system allows the pilot to maneuver at high angles of attack without the risk of departing the airplane

8. (obsolete, transitive) To divide up; to distribute, share.

9. (obsolete, transitive) To separate, part.

   • 1582, Stephen Batman (translator), Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, London: Thomas East, Book 5, Chapter 26, “Of the shoulders,” The twisted forkes [i.e. fork-shaped bones] be néedfull to binde the shoulders, and to depart them from the breast.

noun

1. (obsolete) Division; separation, as of compound substances.

2. (obsolete) A going away; departure.