associate vs separate

associate

verb
  • To connect evidentially, or in the mind or imagination. 

  • To connect or join together; combine. 

  • To join as a partner, ally, or friend. 

  • To endorse. 

  • To join in or form a league, union, or association. 

  • To spend time socially; keep company. 

  • To be associative. 

noun
  • A companion; a comrade. 

  • One that habitually accompanies or is associated with another; an attendant circumstance. 

  • A person united with another or others in an act, enterprise, or business; a partner. 

  • One of a pair of elements of an integral domain (or a ring) such that the two elements are divisible by each other (or, equivalently, such that each one can be expressed as the product of the other with a unit). 

  • Somebody with whom one works, coworker, colleague. 

  • A member of an institution or society who is granted only partial status or privileges. 

adj
  • Joined with another or others and having lower status. 

  • Having partial status or privileges. 

  • Following or accompanying; concomitant. 

separate

verb
  • To cause (things or people) to be separate. 

  • To disunite from a group or mass; to disconnect. 

  • To divide (a thing) into separate parts. 

  • To divide itself into separate pieces or substances. 

noun
  • A printing of an article from a periodical as its own distinct publication and distributed independently, often with different page numbers. 

  • Anything that is sold by itself, especially articles of clothing such as blouses, skirts, jackets, and pants. 

adj
  • Apart from (the rest); not connected to or attached to (anything else). 

  • Not together (with); not united (to). 

How often have the words associate and separate occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )