quarantine

noun

quar·an·tine | \ ˈkwȯr-ən-ˌtēn

, ˈkwär-\

Definition of quarantine

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : a period of 40 days

2a : a term during which a ship arriving in port and suspected of carrying contagious disease is held in isolation from the shore

b : a regulation placing a ship in quarantine

c : a place where a ship is detained during quarantine

3a : a restraint upon the activities or communication of persons or the transport of goods designed to prevent the spread of disease or pests

b : a place in which those under quarantine are kept

4 : a state of enforced isolation

quarantine

verb

quarantined; quarantining

Definition of quarantine (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to detain in or exclude by quarantine

2 : to isolate from normal relations or communication quarantine an aggressor

intransitive verb

: to establish or declare a quarantine

Examples of quarantine in a Sentence

Noun

The infected people were put into quarantine. The cows will be kept in quarantine for another week. The dog was put under quarantine.

Verb

The hospital quarantined the infected patients. The dog was immediately quarantined.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

But, will Riverdale ever come out of this quarantine? — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, "The "Riverdale" Mid-Season Finale Left Us Shook and With Multiple Questions," 13 Dec. 2018 Nobody in Nebraska, Minnesota or Delaware elected the deputy assistant administrator of plant quarantine at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. — Ben Sasse, WSJ, "Blame Congress for Politicizing the Court," 5 Sep. 2018 Bam Bam, as the 30-year-old female is called, has finished her period of precautionary quarantine and joined Berlin in the zoo's $11 million exhibit that opened in 2010. — Matt Campbell, kansascity, "Who's that new polar bear at the Kansas City Zoo? | The Kansas City Star," 24 May 2018 Six weeks later, with the Lincoln essentially complete, the Commercial Club began planning a New Year’s Eve extravaganza to celebrate the hotel’s opening and the lifting of the influenza quarantine, according to the application. — Irene North, The Seattle Times, "Scottsbluff’s Lincoln Hotel turns 100," 13 Jan. 2018 The corporate takeover worked as a sort of quarantine. — Max Fisher, Amanda Taub And Dalia MartÍnez, New York Times, "Losing Faith in the State, Some Mexican Towns Quietly Break Away," 7 Jan. 2018 Schools shut down, and the city government — the officials who were still standing, that is — put the town under quarantine. — Verge Staff, The Verge, "Seven scary stories to tell by the light of your screen," 31 Oct. 2018 Gone was the six-month quarantine for any dog entering the U.K.; instead, animals could arrive 21 days after a rabies vaccination. — Mirren Gidda, Newsweek, "The Latest Illegal Business in the U.K. Is Dog Smuggling," 16 Jan. 2018 Young and his attorney spoke to the Guilford Board of Selectmen Monday morning to ask First Selectman Matthew Hoey to overturn the quarantine and kill order, in effect since the bite in August. — Shawn R. Beals, courant.com, "After Nearly A Year In Town Custody — And A Kill Order — Guilford Family's Dog At Center Of Potential Federal Lawsuit," 2 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

The disease originated from a small dog-breeding facility in Marion County, Iowa, and both the animals and the building in question are currently being quarantined while the pups undergo clinical testing. — Elizabeth Gulino, House Beautiful, "Multiple Cases of a Disease That Can Be Transmitted From Dogs to Humans Are Confirmed in Iowa," 13 May 2019 The animal may need to be quarantined before the flight — for example, up to 120 days for Hawaii — at the owner’s expense. — Martine Powers, Washington Post, "When flying with your pet, going the proper route can come with a steep cost," 9 Mar. 2018 Later Tuesday evening, the organizing committee said 32 cases of Norovirus had been confirmed and those people were quarantined after being treated. — Rachel Axon, USA TODAY, "Winter Olympics security workers hit with vomiting illness; military personnel called in for backup," 6 Feb. 2018 The Emirates flight arrived at 9:10 a.m. and was immediately swarmed by police and quarantined for an assessment by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. — Rose Minutaglio, Popular Mechanics, "Vanilla Ice Keeps His Cool While Trapped on Quarantined New York Plane," 5 Sep. 2018 The snakes were quarantined in Moscow because the passenger lacked proper documents, including from veterinarians, to bring the snakes from Düsseldorf to Russia. — Frank Miles, Fox News, "Snakes on a plane: Passenger flew from Germany to Russia with 20 snakes in his bag," 12 Sep. 2018 On ground for 40 min and now told someone on board is sick & we are being towed to other gate and quarantined until all checked out. — Michael Bartiromo, Fox News, "American Airlines flight carrying Mike Huckabee detained at Nashville airport due to ill passenger," 16 Aug. 2018 An American Airlines spokeswoman says the plane wasn't quarantined. — Fox News, "Passengers on 2 flights from Europe arrive sick in Philly," 6 Sep. 2018 All of the boys, the last of whom were pulled out by an international team of divers Tuesday after being trapped since June 23, have been quarantined while they are tested for infections. — Caroline Simon, USA TODAY, "The Thai soccer team is out of the cave. But the road to recovery is just beginning.," 10 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'quarantine.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for quarantine

Noun

partly modification of French quarantaine, from Old French, from quarante forty, from Latin quadraginta, from quadra- (akin to quattuor four) + -ginta (akin to viginti twenty); partly modification of Italian quarantena quarantine of a ship, from quaranta forty, from Latin quadraginta — more at four, vigesimal

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about quarantine

Dictionary Entries near quarantine

Statistics for quarantine

Last Updated

10 May 2019

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for quarantine

The first known use of quarantine was in 1617

See more words from the same year

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for quarantine

quarantine

noun

English Language Learners Definition of quarantine

(Entry 1 of 2)

: the period of time during which a person or animal that has a disease or that might have a disease is kept away from others to prevent the disease from spreading

: the situation of being kept away from others to prevent a disease from spreading

quarantine

verb

English Language Learners Definition of quarantine (Entry 2 of 2)

: to keep (a person or animal) away from others to prevent a disease from spreading : to put or keep (a person or animal) in quarantine

See the full definition for quarantine in the English Language Learners Dictionary

quarantine

noun

quar·an·tine | \ ˈkwȯr-ən-ˌtēn