discrete.

Individually separate rather than continuously connected.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• discrete stages
• discrete units

On the page

The process was divided into three discrete stages.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Normally non-gradable; no ordinary comparative or superlative. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, evaluation. Commonness: moderately common.