[syn: separation, breakup, detachment]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Detachment \De*tach"ment\, n. [Cf. F. d['e]tachement.]
1. The act of detaching or separating, or the state of being
detached.
[1913 Webster]
2. That which is detached; especially, a body of troops or
part of a fleet sent from the main body on special
service.
[1913 Webster]
Troops . . . widely scattered in little detachments.
--Bancroft.
[1913 Webster]
3. Abstraction from worldly objects; renunciation.
[1913 Webster]
A trial which would have demanded of him a most
heroic faith and the detachment of a saint. --J. H.
Newman.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
detachment
n 1: avoiding emotional involvement [syn: withdrawal,
detachment]
2: the act of releasing from an attachment or connection [syn:
detachment, disengagement]
3: the state of being isolated or detached; "the insulation of
England was preserved by the English Channel" [syn:
insulation, insularity, insularism, detachment]
4: a small unit of troops of special composition
5: coming apart [syn: separation, breakup, detachment]