sequester
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
9 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "sequester", 9-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "sequester" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "sequester" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
sequester is aEnglishverb. It means: To separate from all external influence; to seclude; to withdraw. Pronounced /sɪˈkwɛs.tə/.
Compare similar words
See how sequester compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sequester |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /sɪˈkwɛs.tə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #50,797 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sequester is 9 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /sɪˈkwɛs.tə/. Corpus data places it at rank #50,797 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for sequester in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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-E… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is sequester, spelled S-E-Q-U-E-S-T-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To separate from all external influence; to seclude; to withdraw.
- 2To separate in order to store.
- 3To set apart; to put aside; to remove; to separate from other things.
- 4To prevent an ion in solution from behaving normally by forming a coordination compound.
- 5To temporarily remove (property) from the possession of its owner and hold it as security against legal claims.
- 6To cause (one) to submit to the process of sequestration; to deprive (one) of one's estate, property, etc.
- 7To remove (certain funds) automatically from a budget.
- 8To seize and hold enemy property.
- 9To withdraw; to retire.
- 10To renounce (as a widow may) any concern with the estate of her husband.
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”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #50,797 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "sequester"?
What does "sequester" mean?
How do you pronounce "sequester"?
What is the origin of the word "sequester"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: