sequester
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To separate from all external influence.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sihkwehsterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
sɪkˈwɛstɚ
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.
verb
To separate from all external influence; to seclude; to withdraw.
To set apart; to put aside; to remove; to separate from other things.
“The dentist sequesters the tooth he is working on.”
To separate in order to store.
intransitive
To withdraw; to retire.
To cause (one) to submit to the process of sequestration; to deprive (one) of one's estate, property, etc.
To renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.
noun
Sequestration; separation
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To separate from all external influence; to seclude; to withdraw.
Used this way, sequester is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use sequester
- “He sequestered himself in his study to write a book.”verb
- “The dentist sequesters the tooth he is working on.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The act of segregating or sequestering.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to separate from all external influence
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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.