go their separate ways
Split up permanently
To go their separate ways is to part company, either literally or figuratively.
Two people walking together might go their separate ways at an intersection.
More often the phrase describes the end of a relationship or partnership: After ten years of marriage, they decided to go their separate ways.
The phrase softens what might otherwise sound like a breakup or split.
- partPiece of whole
- fork in the roadWhere a road divides
- splitSeparation into parts
- disperseCause to spread apart
- estrangementEmotional separation between people
parting of ways · break it off · call it quits · divide · drift apart · cut ties · disbandment · dissolution · diverge · divorce · branch off · farewell · say goodbye · uncoupling · turn · path · breakup · scatter
go their separate waysstay together
Remain as one unit
stick together · unite · join forces · come together · band together
go their separate waysreconcile
Resolve a disagreement
make up · get back together · patch things up · tie the knot · mend fences
their, separate, theirs, separately, separation, separates, separated, separating, separateness