split up

To stop being together as a couple or group, or go in different directions.

• They split up last year.
• The band split up after its final tour.
• Let us split up and search different streets.

How to use it: split up with someone (She split up with her boyfriend last month.)

Similar words: separate, break up, part

Opposites: unite, reconcile

Common phrases: split up with someone, split up temporarily

To divide people or things into separate parts or groups.

• Please split up the group.
• The teacher split the children up into teams.
• They are splitting up the company into smaller businesses.

How to use it: split someone/something up into something (The teacher split the class up into pairs.); split someone/something up (We had to split the two boys up.)

Similar words: divide, separate

Opposites: combine, unite

Common phrases: split up something, split someone up

In separate parts or groups, or no longer together.

• They are already split up.
• The class is split up into small groups.
• Our family was split up across several towns.

How to use it: be split up into something (The children are split up into three groups.)

Similar words: separated, divided, apart

Opposites: together, united

Common phrases: be split up, already split up