sequester

verb se·ques·ter \ si-ˈkwe-stər \

|Updated on: 8 Aug 2018

Examples: sequester in a Sentence

Definition of sequester

sequestered; sequestering play \si-ˈkwe-st(ə-)riŋ\

transitive verb

1 a : to set apart : segregate

sequester a jury

b : seclude, withdraw

widely spaced homes are forbiddingly grand and sequestered
—Don Asher

2 a : to seize especially by a writ of sequestration

b : to place (property) in custody especially in sequestration

3 : to bind (a metal or metal ion) in the form of a soluble complex or chelate by adding a suitable reagent for the purpose of preventing precipitation in water solution by chemical agents that would normally bring it about, of solubilizing precipitates already formed, or of otherwise suppressing undesired chemical or biological activity

sequester calcium and magnesium ions in the softening of hard water

; also : to bind or absorb (carbon dioxide) as part of a larger chemical process or compound

… half of the starting material will be used up and half will be char. That can then be put back on the fields, where it will sequester carbon and help grow the next crop.
—Emma Marris

See sequester defined for English-language learners

See sequester defined for kids

Examples of sequester in a Sentence

The jury was sequestered until a verdict was reached.
He was sequestered in his room.

Recent Examples of sequester from the Web

The carbon dioxide, upwards of 10 percent, must be stripped out and sequestered back in the reservoir at the GTP.

— author: elwood brehmer, Anchorage Daily News, "Veteran industry engineer questions aspects of Alaska LNG plans," 6 July 2018
Staging the summit there gives Moon a bit of a home-field advantage, but the South Korean president seems intent on making sure Kim feels at ease, and has sequestered most of the media far away.

— Washington Post, "Rival Koreas’ leaders face high stakes at historic summit," 26 Apr. 2018
Staging the summit there gives Moon a bit of a home-field advantage, but the South Korean president seems intent on making sure Kim feels at ease, and has sequestered most of the media far away.

— Fox News, "Rival Koreas' leaders face high stakes at historic summit," 25 Apr. 2018
Tattooing green stripes on the tails of albino mice (via stick-and-poke), the immunologists confirmed that macrophages sequestered the ink.

— steph yin, New York Times, "The Cells That Eat, Regurgitate and Eat Your Tattoos Again," 6 Mar. 2018
The actual lottery is held just before in front of a handful of league, team and news media witnesses sequestered in another room.

— benjamin hoffman and victor mather, New York Times, "N.B.A. Draft Order Is Set With Phoenix Suns at No. 1," 16 May 2018
And, for Miller, sequestered in a steakhouse in Bloomington with his coaches and St. Mary’s graduate transfer Evan Fitzner, the celebration breaking out around them was a dead giveaway.

— zach osterman, Indianapolis Star, "Insider: How Archie Miller landed Romeo Langford, against the odds," 1 May 2018
Hundreds of reporters sequestered at a media center well away from Panmunjom erupted in cheers and claps as jumbo television screens showed the moment Kim and Moon met.

— kim tong-hyung, Fox News, "An AP reporter's account of the historic inter-Korean summit," 28 Apr. 2018
The panel of seven men and five women, sequestered for the duration of the trial, entered the courtroom just before 9:45 a.m. to listen to the testimony.

— jeremy roebuck, Philly.com, "Bill Cosby found guilty of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004," 26 Apr. 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of sequester

Middle English sequestren, from Anglo-French sequestrer, from Latin sequestrare to hand over to a trustee, from sequester third party to whom disputed property is entrusted, agent, from secus beside, otherwise; akin to Latin sequi to follow

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

sequester Synonyms

Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, chattel, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

sequester

noun

Definition of sequester

1 obsolete : separation, isolation

2 : the imposition of automatic government spending reductions in accordance with sequestration

Recent Examples of sequester from the Web

In the five years the sequester has been in effect, the Department has lost $484 billion dollars compared to Gates’s budget plan.

— jim talent, National Review, "The Budget Deal Won’t Be Enough to Get the Armed Forces Trump Wants," 13 Feb. 2018
Mortara survived, and when word reached church authorities that a baptized Catholic was living in a Jewish home, the Inquisition ordered his sequester under laws requiring Catholics be raised as such.

— nicole winfield, Fox News, "Case of Jewish boy taken by pope flares over doctored memoir," 20 Apr. 2018
Coastal wetlands buffer the state from storm surge, absorb flooding, filter water and sequester greenhouse gases, all reasons that have prompted the state to launch a 50-year, $50-billion effort to restore the coast.

— sara sneath, NOLA.com, "As Louisiana's coast washes away, state cashing in on disputed oil and gas rights," 31 May 2018
Getting out from under the defense sequester has been a driving issue for military hawks, like Sen. John McCain of Arizona, all year.

— david lauter, latimes.com, "Bipartisanship prevails — by sending the debt sky high," 9 Feb. 2018
Both sides want to lift spending caps on defense and domestic programs, remnants of the 2013 sequester that could trigger an automatic $6 billion in cuts this fiscal year.

— margaret hartmann, Daily Intelligencer, "Everything You Need to Know About the Government Shutdown Fight," 16 Jan. 2018
His team from Del Rosario University in Bogotá is tracking pioneer species, how long reforestation takes, and whether secondary forests in the Andes sequester as much carbon as primary forests.

— lizzie wade, Science | AAAS, "Colombian scientists race to study once-forbidden territory before it is lost to development—or new conflict," 26 Apr. 2018
While such sequesters, as they were known, were not unheard of, the kidnapping became an international scandal and contributed to the anti-clerical sentiment sweeping across Europe.

— nicole winfield, Fox News, "Case of Jewish boy taken by pope flares over doctored memoir," 20 Apr. 2018
These kinds of laws are often easily circumvented, like in 2011, when the Obama-era impasse over deficit reduction ultimately resulted in the 2013 sequester.

— tara golshan, Vox, "House Republicans are voting to make deficits unconstitutional after their $1.5 trillion tax cut," 12 Apr. 2018

First Known Use of sequester

1604

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

SEQUESTER Defined for English Language Learners

sequester

verb

Definition of sequester for English Language Learners

: to keep (a person or group) apart from other people
law : to take (property) until a debt has been paid

Medical Dictionary

sequester

transitive verb se·ques·ter \ si-ˈkwes-tər \

medical Definition of sequester

: to hold (as a metallic ion) in solution especially for the purpose of suppressing undesired chemical or biological activity

sequester

noun

medical Definition of sequester

: sequestrum

Law Dictionary

sequester

transitive verb se·ques·ter \ si-ˈkwes-tər \

legal Definition of sequester

sequestered; sequestering

1 : to place (as a jury or witness) in seclusion or isolation

Note: Juries are sequestered in order to preserve their impartiality. Witnesses are sequestered so that their testimony is not influenced by the testimony of prior witnesses.

2 a : to seize especially by a writ of sequestration

b : to deposit (property) in sequestration

Origin and Etymology of sequester

Anglo-French sequestrer, from Middle French, from Latin sequestrare to hand over to a trustee, from sequester third party to whom disputed property is entrusted, agent, from secus beside, otherwise