cordon sanitaire

American  

[kawr-dawn sa-nee-ter] / kɔr dɔ̃ sa niˈtɛr /

noun

• cordons sanitaires
  plural

1. a line around a quarantined area guarded to prevent the spread of a disease by restricting passage into or out of the area.

2. a group of neighboring, generally neutral states forming a geographical barrier between two states having aggressive military or ideological aims against each other.

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cordon sanitaire British  

/ kɔrdɔ̃ sanitɛr /

noun

1. a guarded line serving to cut off an infected area

2. a line of buffer states, esp when protecting a nation from infiltration or attack

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cordons sanitaires
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cordon sanitaire

From French, dating back to 1840–50; see origin at cordon, sanitary

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cordon sanitaire

That’s why counties like Los Angeles have kept up vigilant monitoring and fly-murdering programs, sometimes with new tools, to protect the state’s agricultural cordon sanitaire from Napa and Sonoma to the Mexican border.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2024

Adrien Proust was the renowned epidemiologist who pioneered the use of the cordon sanitaire to sequester infectious disease — the 19th century’s version of social distancing.

From New York Times ● May 12, 2021

When labs nationwide began shutting their doors and halting nonessential research, Kim’s experiment ran unaffected on the ISS, protected by the cordon sanitaire of space.

From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2021

Complicating the situation, it may simply be difficult to know at this point whether restrictive measures like a cordon sanitaire will actually be effective in all places and situations.

From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2020

A proposal by President Carranza to draw a cordon sanitaire round the place has not yet reached Washington.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. CLVIII, January 7, 1920 by Various

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