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departure

de·par·tureUK /dɪˈpɑː(ɹ)tjə(ɹ)/noun

departure is spelled D-E-P-A-R-T-U-R-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables (de·par·ture). It appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, departure means “The act of departing or something that has departed” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of departure is departures.

How many letters and syllables are in departure?

Letters9: D-E-P-A-R-T-U-R-E
Syllables3: de·par·ture
In writing17 times per million words; the 4,934th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is departure?

Departure appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,934th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce departure?

  • UK /dɪˈpɑː(ɹ)tjə(ɹ)/
  • UK /dɪˈpɑː(ɹ)t͡ʃə(ɹ)/

Departure has 3 syllables, split de·par·ture in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-departure.ogg, En-uk-departure.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-departure.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of departure

  • departures plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does departure mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The act of departing or something that has departed.

    The departure was scheduled for noon.

  2. 2

    A deviation from a plan or procedure.

    There are several significant departures, however, from current practice.

  3. 3

    A death.

  4. 4

    The distance due east or west made by a ship in its course reckoned in plane sailing as the product of the distance sailed and the sine of the angle made by the course with the meridian.

  5. 5

    The difference in easting between the two ends of a line or curve.

    The area is computed by latitudes and departures.

  6. 6

    The desertion by a party to any pleading of the ground taken by him in his last antecedent pleading, and the adoption of another

  7. 7

    obsoleteDivision; separation; putting away.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate departure?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of departure: dep.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Departure in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdépart (the act of departing), déviation (deviation from a plan or procedure)
GermanAbfahrt, Abreise, Abflug (the act of departing), Verlassen (deviation from a plan or procedure), Sterben, Dahinscheiden (death)
Portuguesepartida (the act of departing), desvio (deviation from a plan or procedure), óbito (death)
Spanishsalida, partida, zarpa, ida (the act of departing)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does departure come from?

From Old French deporteure (“departure; figuratively, death”). By surface analysis, depart + -ure.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after departure