sequester

English

WOTD – 9 October 2008

Etymology

From Middle English sequestren (verb) and sequestre (noun), from Old French sequestrer, from Late Latin sequestrō (“separate, give up for safekeeping”), from Latin sequester (“mediator, depositary”), probably originally meaning "follower", from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“follow”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɪˈkwɛs.tə/, /səˈkwɛs.tə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɪˈkwɛs.tɚ/, /səˈkwɛs.tɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛstə(ɹ)

Verb

sequester (third-person singular simple present sequesters, present participle sequestering, simple past and past participle sequestered)

1. To separate from all external influence; to seclude; to withdraw.

   The jury was sequestered from the press by the judge's order.

   • [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     when men most sequester themselves from action

2. To separate in order to store.

   The coal burning plant was ordered to sequester its CO₂ emissions.

   • 2023 September 25, Vincent Doumeizel, “Opinion: Seaweed is nutritious, not slimy. Eating it could save the world.”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     There has been some investigation into the potential of seaweeds as a carbon store, and although more is needed, one study says that seaweed habitats are believed to be the most productive of all coastal vegetated ecosystems, and suggested that the world’s seaweed sequesters as much carbon as all the planet’s seagrass meadows, saltmarshes and mangroves combined.

4. To set apart; to put aside; to remove; to separate from other things.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:set apart

   • a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC:

     I had wholly sequestered my thoughts from civil affairs.

5. (chemistry) To prevent an ion in solution from behaving normally by forming a coordination compound.
6. (law) To temporarily remove (property) from the possession of its owner and hold it as security against legal claims.
7. To cause (one) to submit to the process of sequestration; to deprive (one) of one's estate, property, etc.
   • c. 1694, Robert South, sermon XXIV

     It was his tailor and his cook, his fine fashions and his French ragouts, which sequestered him.

8. (transitive, US, politics, law) To remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget.

   The Budget Control Act of 2011 sequestered 1.2 trillion dollars over 10 years on January 2, 2013.

9. (international law) To seize and hold enemy property.
10. (intransitive) To withdraw; to retire.
    • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:

      to sequester out of the world into Atlantic and Utopian politics

11. (dated) To renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.

Synonyms

• segregate

Derived terms

• biosequester
• cryosequester
• geosequester
• resequester
• sequesterable
• sequestered adjective
• sequesterer
• sequesterment
• sequestrable adjective
• sequestrate verb
• sequestration noun
• sequestrator noun

Related terms

• sequel
• sequence
• sequacious
• segue

Translations

to separate from all external influence

• Bulgarian: изолирам (bg) (izoliram)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 隔离 (zh) (gélí), 隔绝 (zh) (géjué)

• Czech: oddělit (cs)
• Dutch: afzonderen (nl)
• Finnish: eristää (fi), erottaa (fi)
• French: séquestrer (fr), mettre sous séquestre
• German: absondern (de)
• Hungarian: elkülönít (hu), különválaszt (hu)
• Korean: 격리하다 (ko) (gyeongnihada)
• Norwegian: sekvestrere
• Romanian: sechestra (ro), pune sub sechestru
• Russian: изолировать (ru) (izolirovatʹ)
• Spanish: separar (es), aislar (es), enclaustrar (es), inclaustrar (es)
• Turkish: ayırmak (tr), tecrit etmek (tr)

to separate in order to store

• Bulgarian: заде́лям (bg) impf (zadéljam), заделя́ (bg) pf (zadeljá), отде́лям (bg) impf (otdéljam), отделя́ (bg) pf (otdeljá)
• German: abscheiden (de)
• Russian: секвестировать (ru) (sekvestirovatʹ), уре́зать (ru) (urézatʹ)

chemistry: to prevent an ion from behaving normally

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• French: séquestrer (fr)
• Romanian: sechestra (ro)

law: to temporarily remove (property) from the possession of its owner and hold it as security against legal claims

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 假扣押 (zh) (jiǎ kòuyā)

• Finnish: takavarikoida (fi)
• German: sequestrieren, beschlagnahmen und zwangsverwalten, unter Sequester stellen
• Hungarian: zár alá vesz, lefoglal (hu), elkoboz (hu), zárol (hu)

US, politics, law: to remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: elkülönít (hu)

to withdraw; to retire — see also withdraw,‎ retire

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: félrevonul (hu), elzárkózik (hu), visszavonul (hu), elkülönül (hu)

Noun

sequester (plural sequesters)

1. sequestration; separation
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

     A sequester from liberty , fasting , and prayer

2. (law) A person with whom two or more contending parties deposit the subject matter of the controversy; one who mediates between two parties; a referee
3. (medicine) A sequestrum.

Translations

sequestration, separation

• Bulgarian: отделяне (bg) n (otdeljane), изолиране (bg) n (izolirane)
• German: Abscheidung (de), Abtrennung (de), Absonderung (de)
• Polish: areszt (pl) m, sekwestr m, sekwestracja f

a person with whom two or more parties deposit the subject matter of the controversy

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Zwangsverwalter, Sequester

sequestrum — see sequestrum

References

• “sequester”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “sequester”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “sequester”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “sequester”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• requestes, sequestre

Latin

Etymology

From secus (“otherwise, beside”) +‎ -tris from the contrastive suffix *-teros which is also found in magister, minister and mātertera.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [sɛˈkʷɛs.tɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [seˈkʷɛs.ter]

Noun

sequester m (genitive sequestris); third declension or sequester m (genitive sequestrī); second declension

1. depositary, trustee (someone to take care of property while in dispute)
2. agent of bribery, go-between
3. mediator

Declension

Usually: Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	sequester	sequestrēs
genitive	sequestris	sequestrum
dative	sequestrī	sequestribus
accusative	sequestrem	sequestrēs
ablative	sequestre	sequestribus
vocative	sequester	sequestrēs

Sometimes: Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

	singular	plural
nominative	sequester	sequestrī
genitive	sequestrī	sequestrōrum
dative	sequestrō	sequestrīs
accusative	sequestrum	sequestrōs
ablative	sequestrō	sequestrīs
vocative	sequester	sequestrī

Related terms

• sequestra
• sequestrum

References

• “sequester”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sequester”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.