cordon

1 of 2

noun

cor·​don ˈkȯr-dᵊn 

-ˌdän

1

a

: an ornamental cord or ribbon

untied the cordon that fastened his cloak

b

: stringcourse

2

a

: a line of troops or of military posts enclosing an area to prevent passage

b

: a line of persons or objects around a person or place

a cordon of police

3

: an espalier especially of a fruit tree trained as a single horizontal shoot or two diverging horizontal shoots in a single line

cordon

2 of 2

verb

cordoned; cordoning; cordons

transitive verb

: to form a protective or restrictive cordon (see cordon entry 1 sense 2) around

—usually used with off

Police cordoned off the area around the crime scene.

Examples of cordon in a Sentence

Noun

A cordon of police kept protesters away from the building.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Reuters footage showed uniformed PJ officers on a cordon on a dirt road in Atalaia - a neighborhood of Lagos municipality - waving through unmarked vans and cars with German license plates from the city of Wiesbaden, where the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has its headquarters. —Reuters, CNN Money, 3 June 2025

Mourners waited hours to reach the casket, which was behind a cordon. —Colleen Barry and Nicole Winfield, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2025

Verb

The sterile flies proceeded to, well, screw the continent’s wild populations into oblivion, and in 2006, an invisible barrier was established at the Darién Gap, the jungle that straddles the Panama-Colombia border, to cordon the screwworm-free north off from the south. —Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 27 May 2025

While there are no actual doors dividing living spaces in this condo, the arched doorways are covered by thick privacy curtains to cordon each space off from one another. —Erika Owen, Architectural Digest, 5 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English coordone "cord worn in token of victory," borrowed from Middle French cordon "small cord, bowstring," going back to Old French, from corde "rope, string" + -on, diminutive suffix (going back to Latin -ō, -ōn-, suffix of nouns denoting persons with a prominent feature) — more at cord entry 1

Note: The sense "alignment of objects" appears to have originated in French in the 17th century; the military use ("line of military posts," etc.) is attested in French in the 18th century not long before it first appeared in English.

Verb

derivative of cordon entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1891, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing cordon

• cordon bleu
• cordon off
• cordon sanitaire

Rhymes for cordon

• warden
• churchwarden

Kids Definition

cordon

noun

cor·​don

ˈkȯrd-ᵊn,

ˈkȯ(ə)r-ˌdän

1

: an ornamental cord used especially on costumes

2

: a line of persons or things around a person or place

a cordon of police

3

: a cord or ribbon worn as a badge or decoration