quarantine
noun · verb
Simple meaning
To keep someone or something isolated to stop sickness from spreading.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kwawruhnteenSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkwɔɹəntin
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A period, instance, or state of isolation from the general public or from native livestock and flora enacted to prevent the spread of any contagious disease.
Enforced isolation of patients suffering from a contagious disease in order to prevent the spread of disease
figurative
A similar period, instance, or state of rigidly enforced or self-enforced detention or isolation.
A period of 40 days, particularly
A place where such isolation is enforced, a lazaret.
verb
intransitive
To enter or stay in quarantine, particularly to self-quarantine to avoid an epidemic disease.
Place into enforced isolation, as for medical reasons
“My dog was quarantined before he could live in England.”
transitive
To place into isolation to prevent the spread of any contagious disease.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A period, instance, or state of isolation from the general public or from native livestock and flora enacted to prevent the spread of any contagious disease.
Used this way, quarantine is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It turns up most in medicine or healthcare contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use quarantine
- “My dog was quarantined before he could live in England.”verb
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.