quarantine

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 The Blouins' flight touches down at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California, where nearly 180 passengers begin two weeks of quarantine. — Grace Hauck, USA Today, "From a rumor to 1,000 deaths: How the coronavirus outbreak unfolded for Americans at the epicenter," 12 Feb. 2020 British passengers were taken to the Kents Hill Park conference center, about 50 miles northwest of London, for 14 days of quarantine. — Megan Specia, BostonGlobe.com, "UK declares coronavirus ‘imminent threat’ as Europe scrambles," 10 Feb. 2020 Leaders of a White House task force on coronavirus announced that beginning February 2, any U.S. citizen who has been in China's Hubei province in the previous 14 days will be subject to 14 days of mandatory quarantine upon returning to the U.S. — CBS News, "What is the coronavirus from China and what are the symptoms?," 10 Feb. 2020 The ship is now anchored near Tokyo and is in the first days of a two-week quarantine. — oregonlive, "Forest Grove woman among cruise ship passengers infected with coronavirus, husband says," 7 Feb. 2020 Over 3,700 people on a luxury cruise ship now docked in Yokohama, Japan, are trapped aboard, with guests confined to their cabins for the remainder of 14-day quarantine after the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) joined them at sea. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "3,700 trapped aboard cruise ship after coronavirus embarks," 6 Feb. 2020 The use of electronic trackers in the case of quarantine seems novel but has happened before. — Eamon Barrett, Fortune, "Patient or prisoner? Governments deploy surveillance tech to track coronavirus victims," 5 Feb. 2020 Officials said any American citizen returning to the United States from the Hubei Province in China, where the outbreak is centered, would be subject to up to 14 days of mandatory quarantine. — Michael Corkery, New York Times, "Trump Administration Restricts Entry Into U.S. From China," 31 Jan. 2020 Perhaps most inexplicably, the ban was announced to take effect at 10 a.m. on a Thursday, creating an early-morning crush of travelers trying to get out ahead of the quarantine. — Keith B. Richburg, STAT, "Bird flu. SARS. China coronavirus. Is history repeating itself?," 27 Jan. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Because his symptoms weren’t classed as very severe, doctors told him to just go home and quarantine himself. — Time, "'Coughing Like I Was Going to Die.' Here’s What It’s Like to Survive Coronavirus in Wuhan," 13 Feb. 2020 Chinese authorities have used such surveillance to keep tabs on people and find out who has been into infection hot spots, sometimes forcibly quarantining them. — Anna Fifield, Washington Post, "For China’s leaders, pop-up hospitals are about politics as much as health," 11 Feb. 2020 Chaotic images of packed fever clinics swamped state television, with countless people turned away and asked to quarantine themselves at home. — National Geographic, "‘I can’t wait to hold my kids again’: Life inside Wuhan’s quarantine," 6 Feb. 2020 Later, it was announced that all 195 passengers had agreed to quarantine themselves voluntarily. — Spencer Neale, Washington Examiner, "CDC prepares sites for three planes returning from coronavirus epicenter," 5 Feb. 2020 In the two weeks since Chinese authorities quarantined 35 million people in the city of Wuhan and surrounding regions, cases have continued to accumulate daily by the thousands. — Megan Molteni, Wired, "The US Fast-Tracked a Coronavirus Test to Speed Up Diagnoses," 4 Feb. 2020 Israel has gone so far as to instruct all passengers flying in from mainland China -- not just Wuhan -- to quarantine themselves at home for two weeks. — Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, "'There's no doubt': Top US infectious disease doctor says Wuhan coronavirus can spread even when people have no symptoms," 31 Jan. 2020 Men reminisce about intriguing sisters, whose parents quarantined them after one of the five killed herself. — Los Angeles Times, "Movies on TV for Oct. 6-12: ‘Throne of Blood’ and more," 4 Oct. 2019 When an animal bites someone, the procedure is to quarantine it for 10 days. — Caitlin Hillyard, chicagotribune.com, "A brush with a notorious cat, my rabies education and the big bill that followed," 27 Aug. 2019

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.

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Last Updated

15 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Quarantine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quarantine. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.

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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