sequester means sequestration; separation. It carries an Arena rating of 1781, earned across 10 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, sequester ranks #210 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #736 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,145 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #2,474 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
sequester is pronounced /sɪˈkwɛs.tə/.
Why “sequester” is a great word
To set apart, withdraw, or isolate something or someone, often for protection, safekeeping, or to remove from external influence. From Middle English *sequestren*, via Old French *sequestrer*, from Late Latin *sequestrāre* ("to place in safekeeping, separate"), ultimately from Latin *sequester* ("mediator, depositary"), probably tracing back to the Proto-Indo-European root *sekʷ-* ("to follow"). Unlike "segregate," which implies a systematic, often societal, division, or "isolate," which suggests total separation for containment, to sequester is to remove with a purpose that is custodial, even if cloistered. It is the ancient gold sealed in a treasury vault, a jury shielded from the corrupting storm of public opinion, and a carbon compound locked deep within geological strata—a temporary, deliberate stillness imposed against the relentless current of the world, preserving integrity through quiet, procedural remove.
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”).
noun
- sequestration; separatione.g.“A sequester from liberty , fasting , and prayer” — c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iagg
- A person with whom two or more contending parties deposit the subject matter of the controversy; one who mediates between two parties; a referee
- A sequestrum.
verb
- To separate from all external influence; to seclude; to withdraw.e.g.“The jury was sequestered from the press by the judge's order.”
- To separate in order to store.e.g.“The coal burning plant was ordered to sequester its CO₂ emissions.”
- To set apart; to put aside; to remove; to separate from other things.e.g.“I had wholly sequestered my thoughts from civil affairs.” — a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount
- To prevent an ion in solution from behaving normally by forming a coordination compound.
- To temporarily remove (property) from the possession of its owner and hold it as security against legal claims.
- To cause (one) to submit to the process of sequestration; to deprive (one) of one's estate, property, etc.e.g.“c. 1694, Robert South, sermon XXIV
It was his tailor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts, which sequestered him.”
- To remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget.e.g.“The Budget Control Act of 2011 sequestered 1.2 trillion dollars over 10 years on January 2, 2013.”
- To seize and hold enemy property.
- To withdraw; to retire.e.g.“to sequester out of the world into Atlantic and Utopian politics” — 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:
- To renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.