"separate the sheep from the goats" meaning in English

See separate the sheep from the goats in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: separates the sheep from the goats [present, singular, third-person], separating the sheep from the goats [participle, present], separated the sheep from the goats [participle, past], separated the sheep from the goats [past]
Etymology: From the New Testament discourse of the Sheep and the Goats, particularly Matthew 25:32–33: “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” Head templates: {{en-verb|*|head=separate the sheep from the goats}} separate the sheep from the goats (third-person singular simple present separates the sheep from the goats, present participle separating the sheep from the goats, simple past and past participle separated the sheep from the goats)
  1. To divide the members of a group into those that are superior and those that are inferior. Wikipedia link: the Sheep and the Goats Translations (Translations): отдели́ть зёрна от пле́вел (otdelítʹ zjórna ot plével) [perfective] (Russian), му́хи отде́льно, котле́ты отде́льно (múxi otdélʹno, kotléty otdélʹno) [humorous] (Russian), отдели́ть а́гнцев от ко́злищ (otdelítʹ ágncev ot kózlišč) [literally, perfective] (Russian)
{
  "etymology_text": "From the New Testament discourse of the Sheep and the Goats, particularly Matthew 25:32–33: “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "separates the sheep from the goats",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "separating the sheep from the goats",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "separated the sheep from the goats",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "separated the sheep from the goats",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "head": "separate the sheep from the goats"
      },
      "expansion": "separate the sheep from the goats (third-person singular simple present separates the sheep from the goats, present participle separating the sheep from the goats, simple past and past participle separated the sheep from the goats)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To divide the members of a group into those that are superior and those that are inferior."
      ],
      "id": "en-separate_the_sheep_from_the_goats-en-verb-frK~6Ytj",
      "links": [
        [
          "divide",
          "divide"
        ],
        [
          "superior",
          "superior"
        ],
        [
          "inferior",
          "inferior"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "otdelítʹ zjórna ot plével",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "отдели́ть зёрна от пле́вел"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "múxi otdélʹno, kotléty otdélʹno",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "humorous"
          ],
          "word": "му́хи отде́льно, котле́ты отде́льно"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "otdelítʹ ágncev ot kózlišč",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "literally",
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "отдели́ть а́гнцев от ко́злищ"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "the Sheep and the Goats"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "separate the sheep from the goats"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From the New Testament discourse of the Sheep and the Goats, particularly Matthew 25:32–33: “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.”",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "separates the sheep from the goats",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "separating the sheep from the goats",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "separated the sheep from the goats",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "separated the sheep from the goats",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*",
        "head": "separate the sheep from the goats"
      },
      "expansion": "separate the sheep from the goats (third-person singular simple present separates the sheep from the goats, present participle separating the sheep from the goats, simple past and past participle separated the sheep from the goats)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To divide the members of a group into those that are superior and those that are inferior."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "divide",
          "divide"
        ],
        [
          "superior",
          "superior"
        ],
        [
          "inferior",
          "inferior"
        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "the Sheep and the Goats"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "otdelítʹ zjórna ot plével",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "отдели́ть зёрна от пле́вел"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "múxi otdélʹno, kotléty otdélʹno",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ],
      "word": "му́хи отде́льно, котле́ты отде́льно"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "otdelítʹ ágncev ot kózlišč",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "literally",
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "отдели́ть а́гнцев от ко́злищ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "separate the sheep from the goats"
}

Download raw JSONL data for separate the sheep from the goats meaning in English (2.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (872fc7b and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.