What does quarantining mean?
Quarantining means isolating people, animals, goods, or places that may have been exposed to a contagious disease, especially during an outbreak. The word is commonly used with authorities, health officials, travelers, farms, and imported products: officials may be quarantining exposed passengers, while a government is quarantining livestock after an infection is detected. It implies a deliberate separation intended to prevent transmission, rather than ordinary social distancing or simply staying home. The term comes from the same historical practice as quarantine, originally associated with ships and plague prevention. Although “quarantining” is a present-participle form, it is widely understood as a verb form and can appear in both ongoing and generalized descriptions of public-health and agricultural isolation procedures.
verbQuarantining is isolating people, animals, goods, or places that may have been exposed to a contagious disease in order to prevent its spread. It can also refer to keeping such a person or thing separate from others during a period of observation or restriction.
- Placing or keeping people, animals, goods, or places in isolation to prevent the possible spread of a contagious disease.
- Keeping someone or something separate from others during a period of observation because of a risk of contamination.
- Restricting movement or contact with others as a public-health precaution.
"Health officials are quarantining exposed animals while they monitor them for signs of disease."
"The authorities quarantined the livestock after discovering signs of a contagious disease."
"Passengers are quarantining at home and monitoring themselves for symptoms after returning from the affected area."
From the Italian word for “forty,” quarantine originally referred to a ship's forty-day isolation period designed to prevent plague from reaching port.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does quarantining come from?
The word comes through French from Italian quarantina, meaning “a quarantine of forty days,” which derives from Latin quadraginta, “forty.” The practice developed in Venice in the 16th century, when incoming ships were held offshore for a period intended to prevent plague from spreading. The English word originally referred to the isolation period and later came to denote both the restriction and the place in which isolated people or goods were kept. The present-participle form follows the ordinary English pattern of adding “-ing” to the verb “quarantine.”
Related word forms
How quarantining is actually used
The form is usually used as a present participle in the progressive construction “is/are quarantining,” though it can also function as a gerund in phrases such as “the dangers of quarantining infected animals.” Its use is primarily formal or administrative.
Easily confused with quarantining
Quarantine is the noun or the base form of the verb, while quarantining is the present participle describing the ongoing act of isolating someone or something.
Quarantining is an active, ongoing process, whereas quarantined describes someone or something that has already been placed in isolation.