What does sequestered mean?
Sequestered means separated, isolated, or placed beyond ordinary use or public view. It is especially associated with formal legal and financial situations, where property, funds, or other assets are temporarily removed from someone's control by an official process. In more descriptive contexts, it can describe a person, place, or group living apart from ordinary society, often for reasons of privacy, protection, or seclusion. The word also has a specialized biological sense for material or organisms kept apart or prevented from interacting with other organisms. Its Latin-derived history reinforces the central idea of setting something apart. Compared with simply hidden or private, sequestered often suggests a deliberate and sometimes formal separation, making it especially useful in legal reporting and precise descriptive writing.
Set apart, isolated, secluded, or removed from ordinary use or someone's control.
"The witness was kept sequestered from the other participants in the trial."
The legal and financial senses are formal; the sense of deliberate isolation may be literary or descriptive.
Removed property or other assets from someone's control, especially by legal order.
"The regulator sequestered the firm's remaining funds during the inquiry."
This is the past tense and past participle of the verb sequester and is most often used in legal or financial contexts.
From Latin roots meaning “to set apart,” sequestered describes anything deliberately isolated—from a private retreat to assets placed beyond a person's control.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does sequestered come from?
The word comes through French from Latin sequestrare, meaning “to remove to a place of safety” or “set apart.” Its deeper root is the Latin sequester, a trustee or person entrusted with safeguarding property, itself associated with the idea of setting something aside. The English verb developed into legal, financial, and figurative senses involving separation, removal, and safekeeping.
Related word forms
How sequestered is actually used
In legal and financial writing, the word is formal and often indicates an official removal or restriction. In descriptive contexts, it can suggest deliberate isolation, privacy, or seclusion; its use for a person may sound somewhat literary or old-fashioned.
Easily confused with sequestered
Secluded describes being apart from others or public view, while sequestered can also mean formally removed from someone's control or possession.