The difference between Divorce and Split up

When used as verbs, divorce means to legally dissolve a marriage between two people, whereas split up means cease to be together, break apart from the group.


Divorce is also noun with the meaning: the legal dissolution of a marriage.

check bellow for the other definitions of Divorce and Split up

  1. Divorce as a noun:

    The legal dissolution of a marriage.

    Examples:

    "Richard obtained a divorce from his wife some years ago, but hasn't returned to the dating scene."

  2. Divorce as a noun:

    A separation of connected things.

    Examples:

    "The Civil War split between Virginia and West Virginia was a divorce based along cultural and economic as well as geographic lines."

  3. Divorce as a noun (obsolete):

    That which separates.

  1. Divorce as a verb (transitive):

    To legally dissolve a marriage between two people.

    Examples:

    "A ship captain can marry couples, but cannot divorce them."

  2. Divorce as a verb (transitive):

    To end one's own marriage to (a person) in this way.

    Examples:

    "Lucy divorced Steve when she discovered that he had been unfaithful."

  3. Divorce as a verb (intransitive):

    To obtain a legal divorce.

    Examples:

    "Edna and Simon divorced last year; he got the house, and she retained the business."

  4. Divorce as a verb (transitive):

    To separate something that was connected.

    Examples:

    "The radical group voted to divorce itself from the main faction and start an independent movement."

  1. Split up as a verb (intransitive, idiomatic, Of a group of people):

    Cease to be together, break apart from the group.

    Examples:

    "After she left to go travelling, my girlfriend and I split up."

    "The soldiers split up into smaller squadrons to search the building."

  2. Split up as a verb (transitive):

    separate, disassociate, cause to come apart.

    Examples:

    "The brothers never behaved in class when they were together, so we had to split them up for the exam."