Sequester

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /sɪˈkwÉ›s.tÉ™/, /səˈkwÉ›s.tÉ™/
• US IPA: /sɪˈkwÉ›s.tÉš/, /səˈkwÉ›s.tÉš/

Origin

Late Latin sequestrō ("set aside"), from Latin sequester ("mediator, trustee").

Full definition of sequester

Verb

1. To separate from all external influence; to seclude; to withdraw.The jury was sequestered from the press by the judge's order.
• Hookerwhen men most sequester themselves from action
2. To separate in order to store.The coal burning plant was ordered to sequester its CO₂ emissions.
3. To set apart; to put aside; to remove; to separate from other things.
• Francis BaconI had wholly sequestered my civil affairss.
4. (chemistry) To prevent an ion in solution from behaving normally by forming a coordination compound
5. (legal) To temporarily remove (property) from the possession of its owner and hold it as security against legal claims.
6. To cause (one) to submit to the process of sequestration; to deprive (one) of one's estate, property, etc.
• SouthIt was his tailor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts, which sequestered him.
7. (transitive, US, politics, legal) To remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget.The Budget Control Act of 2011 sequestered 1.2 trillion dollars over 10 years on January 2, 2013.
8. (international legal) To seize and hold enemy property.
9. (intransitive) To withdraw; to retire.
• Miltonto sequester out of the world into Atlantic and Utopian politics
10. To renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.

Related terms

• sequestrable adjective
• sequestered adjective
• sequestrate verb
• sequestration noun
• sequestrator noun

Synonyms

• segregate

Noun

1. sequestration; separation
2. (legal) A person with whom two or more contending parties deposit the subject matter of the controversy; one who mediates between two parties; a referee.
3. (medicine) A sequestrum.