seclude

American  

[si-klood] / sɪˈklud /

verb (used with object)

secluded, secluding

1. to place in or withdraw into solitude; remove from social contact and activity, etc.

2. to isolate; shut off; keep apart.

   They secluded the garden from the rest of the property.

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seclude British  

/ sɪˈkluːd /

verb

1. to remove from contact with others

2. to shut off or screen from view

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Other Word Forms

• unsecluding adjective

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."

Example Sentences

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 don’t seclude them completely from their family.

From The Guardian • Jun. 10, 2015

The perseverance with which they kept the women from our sight is curious, and leads us to conjecture that the general practice of the island is to seclude the women at all times.

From Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-Choo Island by Hall, Basil

Related Words

• cloister
• ostracize
• sequester