cordon

American  

[kawr-dn] / ˈkɔr dn /

noun

• cordons
  plural

1. a line of police, sentinels, military posts, warships, etc., enclosing or guarding an area.

2. a cord or braid worn for ornament or as a fastening.

3. a ribbon worn usually diagonally across the breast as a badge of a knightly or honorary order.

4. Fortification.

   1. a projecting course of stones at the base of a parapet.

   2. the coping of a scarp.

5. Architecture.

   1. a stringcourse, especially one having little or no projection.

   2. a cut-stone riser on a stepped ramp or the like.

6. a fruit tree or shrub trained to grow along a support or a series of such supports.

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verb (used with object)

• cordons,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cordoned,
  past participle,  past
• cordoning
  present participle

1. to surround or blockade with or as with a cordon (usually followed byoff ).

   The police cordoned off the street.

cordon British  

/ ˈkɔːdən /

noun

1. a chain of police, soldiers, ships, etc, stationed around an area

2. a ribbon worn as insignia of honour or rank

3. a cord or ribbon worn as an ornament or fastening

4. Also called: string course.   belt course.   table.  architect an ornamental projecting band or continuous moulding along a wall

5. horticulture a form of fruit tree consisting of a single stem bearing fruiting spurs, produced by cutting back all lateral branches

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verb

1. to put or form a cordon (around); close (off)

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cordons
  plural

Participles

• cordoning
  present
• cordoned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cordon
  simple
• cordons
  simple
• have cordoned
  perfect
• has cordoned
  perfect
• am cordoning
  progressive
• are cordoning
  progressive
• is cordoning
  progressive
• have been cordoning
  perfect progressive
• has been cordoning
  perfect progressive

Past

• cordoned
  simple
• had cordoned
  perfect
• was cordoning
  progressive
• were cordoning
  progressive
• had been cordoning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cordon
  simple
• will have cordoned
  perfect
• will be cordoning
  progressive
• will have been cordoning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of cordon

1400–50; Middle English < Middle French, diminutive of corde

Explanation

That yellow police tape and group of officers encircling the crime scene? That's a kind of cordon — something set up to guard something. A cordon can also mean some kind of ornament or adornment made out of ribbon or cord, usually worn by military folks to signify honor or rank. Not surprising since cordon sounds similar to cord and comes from the Old French word for the same thing. But unless you're part of a security team or often dressed in full military regalia, you probably won't come into contact with cordons very often.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cordon cordons cordoned cordoning

A strict cordon remains in place and there is currently no public access for vehicles or walkers to Glenmore Forest Park or Loch Morlich.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

Yellow police tape was used to cordon off the gas station.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026

A strict cordon remains in place and people have been warned not to travel to the area or attempt to access Glenmore Forest Park, Loch Morlich or the surrounding area while firefighting operations are ongoing.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

Images from the scene showed a police cordon in place on a residential street, with a forensics unit stationed next to a red tent.

From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026

Policemen have thrown a cordon around the compound to prevent new arrivals from entering.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

Officers set up cordons on surrounding roads to prevent people from heading to the coast.

From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026

At the scene, several police cordons were deployed at various locations inside and outside the station, according to images published by local media.

From Barron's ● May 28, 2026

Almost every resident carries a private atlas of vanished places: Regal Cinema, the old Coffee House, Urdu bookshops in Daryaganj, winter evenings at India Gate before barricades and security cordons reshaped the city.

From BBC ● May 25, 2026

Members of the public have been asked to avoid the area, with cordons in place.

From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026

For Roger, bursting through the hostile cordons like an infuriated blue-bottle fly caught in the outer strands of a spider’s web, had applied a premature spark to a gunpowder train.

From The Great Mogul by Tracy, Louis

That week, downtown Seattle was cordoned off because protestors had taken over the streets surrounding the convention center, and some activists had broken the windows of a Starbucks nearby.

From Salon ● Jun. 9, 2026

Photos published by Swiss news outlets show several areas around the station being cordoned off.

From BBC ● May 28, 2026

Video captured by OnSceneTV in the aftermath of the incident showed sheriff’s deputies speaking to a man wearing a Skydive Perris T-shirt next to a field of dry brush cordoned off with police tape.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026

Jonathan’s lawyers said the footprint is inadmissible because the path was “never cordoned off and therefore contaminated,” making the mark “unsuitable as the subject of forensic-scientific examination.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

The small cortege walked on foot, slowly, all the way to the cemetery, between two rows of soldiers who had cordoned off the streets.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

The key is ‘alignment,’ which improves capability while cordoning off dangerous knowledge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

Helicopter footage captured by NBC4 showed police tape cordoning off a section of the residential street, where a large number of emergency responders were gathered.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026

Police arrived soon after, urging visitors to disperse as they began cordoning off the street.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2023

That velvet rope wasn’t cordoning off anything but wishes and dreams.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2023

The incident caused major delays to trains at the station in the early morning rush, with police cordoning off the station and setting up large white curtains around the attack scene.

From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2023

Related Words

• identification
• insignia
• marker
• medallion
• pin
• ribbon
• stamp
• symbol
• token