sequester
/sɪˈkwɛs.tɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.54 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To separate in order to store.
verb
To temporarily remove (property) from the possession of its owner and hold it as security against legal claims.
Example Sentences
- "The jury was sequestered from the press by the judge's order."
- "when men most sequester themselves from action"
- "The coal burning plant was ordered to sequester its CO₂ emissions."
- "There has been some investigation into the potential of seaweeds as a carbon store, and although more is needed, one study says that seaweed habitats are believed to be the most productive of all coastal vegetated ecosystems, and suggested that the world’s seaweed sequesters as much carbon as all the planet’s seagrass meadows, saltmarshes and mangroves combined."
- "I had wholly sequestered my thoughts from civil affairs."
- "c. 1694, Robert South, sermon XXIV It was his tailor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts, which sequestered him."
Etymology
From Middle English sequestren (verb) and sequestre (noun), from Old French sequestrer, from Late Latin sequestrō (“separate, give up for safekeeping”), from Latin sequester (“mediator, depositary”), probably originally meaning "follower", from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“follow”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *sekʷ-, sequestren, sequestrer, sequestrō, sequester
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /sɪˈkwɛs.tɚ/
- British English: /sɪˈkwɛs.tə/
Usage
- American usage
- Transitive verb
- Intransitive verb
- Dated
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
sequestered adjective
sequestrable adjective
sequestrate verb
sequestration noun
sequestrator noun