seclude
Americanverb (used with object)
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to place in or withdraw into solitude; remove from social contact and activity, etc.
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to isolate; shut off; keep apart.
They secluded the garden from the rest of the property.
verb
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to remove from contact with others
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to shut off or screen from view
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of seclude
1425–75; late Middle English < Latin sēclūdere, equivalent to sē- se- + -clūdere, combining form of claudere to close
Explanation
When you seclude someone, you separate them from other people. A Buddhist monk might seclude himself in a remote place to meditate alone for several weeks. Most people use the verb seclude to talk about shutting themselves away from society or keeping themselves separate from others. An eccentric family might seclude itself from the neighbors, for example. The root is Latin, secludere, which means "shut off or confine," from se, "apart" and cludere, "to shut." Originally, seclude was used to mean "to enclose or confine," and by the 1620s it also meant "to keep from public view."
Vocabulary lists containing seclude
Case Closed: Clud, Clus
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se (apart)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Gore and Bush were able to seclude themselves at home, refraining from public comment for days on end.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 5, 2020
Noren curtains in earth tones seclude diners from the busy street outside and from the kitchen.
From The New Yorker ● Jul. 12, 2019
It’s a different world here in Santa Cruz, an easier place to seclude yourself, to find some anonymity.
From New York Times ● Jun. 26, 2018
It sells anonymous offshore companies that help the owners seclude their business dealings.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2017
They retire from the company of those with whom they had formerly associated, seclude themselves in obscure places, or lie in bed the greatest part of their time.
From Observations on Insanity With Practical Remarks on the Disease and an Account of the Morbid Appearances on Dissection by Haslam, John
The fatal collision occurred about five minutes later on the secluded Perthshire road near the junction with Gowrie Farm.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Perched on a hilltop beneath the Aegibong Peace Ecopark observatory where telescopes peek into the secluded state, the shop has drawn tens of thousands from South Korea and abroad since opening in November 2024.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
This is the story of what happens to a dream deferred in the dusty apartments, drag clubs and secluded rivers of Colombia in the 1990s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
And while the home does have neighboring properties on either side, high hedges and lush trees help to make it feel complete private, creating a kind of oasis that feels truly remote and secluded.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026
We rumble past privet hedges and under topiary arches to arrive at secluded lakefront homes where girls wait with satchels, standing very straight.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
My other concern is people are secluding their lives with people who either think like them or more extreme forms of it.
From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2023
“Yep, I’m watching Mr. Eldridge,” one scout says on the phone before secluding himself from earshot.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 12, 2023
They might be secluding themselves on Instagram or LinkedIn, or experimenting with the visual anarchy of TikTok.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
Its next resident will find a private dock, tall trees secluding the pool and spa, and “an effortless, single level indoor/outdoor living experience.”
From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2022
This arises from the Comanches secluding the women and not permitting them air and exercise.
From Monsieur Violet by Marryat, Frederick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
