sequester

[si-kwes-ter]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sequester ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to remove or withdraw into solitude or retirement; seclude.

to remove or separate; banish; exile.

to keep apart from others; segregate or isolate: The jury was sequestered until a verdict was reached.

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.

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

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.

noun

an act or instance of sequestering; separation; isolation.

sequestration(def 7): domestic programs starved for cash by the federal sequester.

Origin of sequester

1350–1400; Middle English sequestren < Latin sequestrāre to put in hands of a trustee, derivative of sequester ‘trustee, depositary’

Related formsse·ques·tra·ble, adjectivenon·se·ques·tered, adjectiveself-se·ques·tered, adjectiveun·se·ques·tered, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sequester

segregate, cloister, insulate, hide, secrete, withdraw, separate, island, enisle

Examples from the Web for sequester

Contemporary Examples of sequester

Used, hubcap-free tires are well known to sequester standing water—a perfect breeding ground for the next generation of mosquitos.
Chikungunya: The Mosquito-Borne Virus That Contorts Your Limbs
Kent Sepkowitz
March 5, 2014
The statement was solely focused on spending levels under the omnibus and their increase over the sequester.
Conservative Groups Oppose Budget Deal
Ben Jacobs
January 14, 2014
The Budget Control Act of 2011 and the sequester have cut discretionary spending across the board.
The Deficit Excuse Is Fading Fast
Daniel Gross
January 10, 2014
And the overall funding levels, while better than the sequester, are still awfully low.
Boehner, the Tea Party, and the Ryan Express
Michael Tomasky
December 13, 2013
It provides $63 billion in sequester relief, which is partially offset by a $23 billion mix of spending cuts and “fees.”
Tea Party Republicans: The Biggest Sore Winners in Washington
Jamelle Bouie
December 12, 2013

Historical Examples of sequester

An undertaking of such scope was too big to sequester in any man's back yard.
Trail's End
George W. Ogden
And would not every one be able to assign the reason why Clarissa Harlowe chose solitude, and to sequester herself from the world?
Clarissa, Volume 7
Samuel Richardson
But beyond the pledgee and the sequester (a receiver appointed by the court) these exceptions are unimportant and disputed.
The Common Law
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
They could bequeath their goods without having him sequester an outrageous part.
Life on a Mediaeval Barony
William Stearns Davis
He seemed rather peculiar, and perhaps it would be just as well to sequester him as far off as possible.
Kit of Greenacre Farm
Izola Forrester

British Dictionary definitions for sequester

sequester

verb (tr)

to remove or separate

(usually passive) to retire into seclusion

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

international law to requisition or appropriate (enemy property)

Derived Formssequestrable, adjective

Word Origin for sequester

C14: from Late Latin sequestrāre to surrender for safekeeping, from Latin sequester a trustee

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sequester

late 14c., "remove" something, "quarantine, isolate" (someone); "excommunicate;" also intransitive, "separate oneself from," from Old French sequestrer (14c.), from Late Latin sequestrare "to place in safekeeping," from Latin sequester "trustee, mediator," noun use of an adjective meaning "intermediate," which probably is related to sequi "to follow" (see sequel). Meaning "seize by authority, confiscate" is first attested 1510s. Alternative sequestrate (v.) is early 15c., from Latin sequestratus. Related: Sequestered; sequestering.