Meaning & use
sequestered
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Located or kept in a quiet, hidden place, away from other people and from outside distractions.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after a verb: a sequestered garden, or she lived sequestered in the hills.
Patterns
- sequestered from something
- sequestered in something
The writer lived in a sequestered cottage far from the nearest village.
Monks spent their days sequestered behind the abbey walls.
He found a sequestered corner of the library where nobody would interrupt him.
adjectivebefore a nounlegal
Kept apart from the public and from outside information, usually by official order, as jurors are during some trials.
Grammar: Often modifies jury or witnesses: a sequestered jury.
Patterns
- a sequestered jury
- sequestered from the public
The sequestered jury was housed in a hotel for the length of the trial.
Sequestered witnesses are not allowed to hear each other's testimony.
Reporters could not reach the sequestered panel, which had no access to news.
Common combinations
- a sequestered jury
- A sequestered jury may not read newspapers or watch television.
- sequestered from the world
- The retreat left the guests sequestered from the world for a week.
- a sequestered life
- After the scandal she led a sequestered life in the countryside.
- sequestered away
- The manuscripts were sequestered away in a locked vault.
- a sequestered spot
- They picnicked in a sequestered spot beside the river.
Synonyms and how they differ
- secluded
- Secluded describes a place that is private and quiet, usually in a pleasant way, whereas sequestered often suggests being cut off on purpose or by order.
- isolated
- Isolated stresses distance or loneliness and does not imply a deliberate decision to keep someone apart.
- cloistered
- Cloistered suggests a sheltered, protected way of life, as in a convent, and is more figurative than sequestered.
- hidden
- Hidden only says something cannot be seen, while sequestered adds the idea of being set apart from others.
Opposites
Word family
- sequester verb
- to keep someone or something apart from others
- sequestration noun
- the act of isolating someone or taking property into legal custody
- sequestrate verb
- to take property temporarily by legal authority
Commonly confused: sequestered or secluded?
sequestered vs secluded
Secluded is a calm word for a private place, such as a secluded beach. Sequestered sounds more formal and often involves a rule or purpose.
Practice
The judge ordered the jury to be ____ in a hotel until the verdict.
Choose one answer.
Sequestered means kept apart from outside contact, which is exactly what happens to a jury in a hotel. Sequenced means arranged in order, and secreted means hidden or released by a gland.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sequestered”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.