divorce vs split up

divorce

verb
  • To separate something that was connected. 

  • To legally dissolve a marriage between two people. 

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

  • To obtain a legal divorce. 

noun
  • The legal dissolution of a marriage. 

  • A separation of connected things. 

  • The separation of a bonded pair of animals. 

split up

verb
  • separate, disassociate, cause to come apart. 

  • Cease to be together, break apart from the group. 

adj
  • Divided or separated. 

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