sequester

American  

[si-kwes-ter] / sɪˈkwɛs tər /

verb (used with object)

1. to remove or withdraw into solitude or retirement; seclude.

2. to remove or separate; banish; exile.

3. to keep apart from others; segregate or isolate.

   The jury was sequestered until a verdict was reached.

4. Law. to remove (property) temporarily from the possession of the owner; seize and hold, as the property and income of a debtor, until legal claims are satisfied.

5. International Law. to requisition, hold, and control (enemy property).

6. to trap (a chemical in the atmosphere or environment) and isolate it in a natural or artificial storage area.

   There are processes to sequester carbon from a power plant's exhaust gases.

   Plants can sequester toxins and store them in their tissues.

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noun

1. an act or instance of sequestering; separation; isolation.

2. sequestration.

   domestic programs starved for cash by the federal sequester.

sequester British  

/ sɪˈkwɛstə /

verb

1. to remove or separate

2. (usually passive) to retire into seclusion

3. law to take (property) temporarily out of the possession of its owner, esp until the claims of creditors are satisfied or a court order is complied with

4. international law to requisition or appropriate (enemy property)

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Other Word Forms

• nonsequestered adjective
• self-sequestered adjective
• sequestrable adjective
• unsequestered adjective

Etymology

Origin of sequester

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English sequestren, from Latin sequestrāre “to put in hands of a trustee,” derivative of sequester “trustee, depositary”

Example Sentences

"Forests globally currently sequester about one-third of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions," said Medlyn.

From Barron's

But they’ve been sequestered for so long that their origins have been obscured, allowing the public to rediscover them anew.

From Los Angeles Times

That leaves Ravinder, who makes a living from his construction company, spending weekends sequestered in his workshop.

From The Wall Street Journal

But things have changed over the years, she says, with the gradual loss of local businesses and a pandemic that isolated an already sequestered town.

From Salon

There were extenuating circumstances, however, such as the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the Whitecaps to split one season between sequesters in Canada and Portland, Ore., then start the next season quarantined in Utah.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• cloister
• close off
• insulate
• segregate