Word Choice – Word for Two Collections That Do Not Have Any Elements in Common

word-choice

I'm looking for a word for when you have a collection A and a collection B and they have no overlap.

In mathematical terms: the relation between two sets where the intersection is empty. Like in this Venn diagram:

Empty intersection

The word that keeps popping up in my mind is disparate sets, but I don't feel that completely covers the meaning when I look at the definition, because that doesn't seem to preclude overlapping sets that are different:

disparate
1. distinct in kind; essentially different; dissimilar:
disparate ideas.

Best Answer

You want disjoint, as in "disjoint sets".

From Wolfram Mathworld:

Disjoint Sets

Two sets A1 and A2 are disjoint if their intersection A1 ∩ A2 = ∅, where ∅ is the empty set.

Disjoint sets are also said to be mutually exclusive or independent.

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