What do the following words have in common?

COUPLES
COMPANY
LEVEL
LOYALTIES
PALATE
PROMISE
SALAD

Answer:

They can all be preceded by words which - metaphorically - break them apart:

SEPARATED COUPLES
PARTED COMPANY
SPLIT LEVEL
DIVIDED LOYALTIES
CLEFT PALATE
BROKEN PROMISE
CHOPPED SALAD

Credit:
NY Times Crossword
July 13, 2003
Randolph Ross
WORDS APART