quarantine

[ kwawr-uhn-teen, kwor-, kwawr-uhn-teen, kwor- ]

noun

1. a strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease.
2. a period, originally 40 days, of detention or isolation imposed upon ships, persons, animals, or plants on arrival at a port or place, when suspected of carrying some infectious or contagious disease.
3. a system of measures maintained by governmental authority at ports, frontiers, etc., for preventing the spread of disease.
4. the branch of the governmental service concerned with such measures.
5. a place or station at which such measures are carried out, as a special port or dock where ships are detained.
6. the detention or isolation enforced.
7. the place, especially a hospital, where people are detained.
8. a period of 40 days.
9. social, political, or economic isolation imposed as a punishment, as in ostracizing an individual or enforcing sanctions against a foreign state.

verb (used with object)

, quar·an·tined, quar·an·tin·ing.

1. to put in or subject to quarantine.
2. to exclude, detain, or isolate for political, social, or hygienic reasons.

quarantine

/ ˈkwɒrənˌtiːn /

noun

1. a period of isolation or detention, esp of persons or animals arriving from abroad, to prevent the spread of disease, usually consisting of the maximum known incubation period of the suspected disease
2. the place or area where such detention is enforced
3. any period or state of enforced isolation

verb

1. to isolate in or as if in quarantine
2. to withhold (a portion of a welfare payment) from a person or group of people

quarantine

1. The isolation of people who either have a contagious disease or have been exposed to one, in an attempt to prevent the spread of the disease.

Notes

The term is sometimes used politically to designate the political and economic isolation of a nation in retribution for unacceptable policies: “When Iraq invaded Kuwait , it was placed in quarantine by the nations of the world.”

Other Words From

• quaran·tina·ble adjective
• quaran·tiner noun
• pre·quaran·tine noun verb (used with object) prequarantined prequarantining
• un·quaran·tined adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of quarantine¹

First recorded in 1600–10; from Italian quarantina, variant of quarantena, originally Upper Italian (Venetian): “period of forty days, group of forty,” derivative of quaranta “forty,” ultimately from Latin quadrāgintā

Word History and Origins

Origin of quarantine¹

C17: from Italian quarantina period of forty days, from quaranta forty, from Latin quadrāgintā

Example Sentences

When a Medfly quarantine in L.A. ended this summer, you could be forgiven for asking, “A what quarantine?”

From Los Angeles Times

The cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove have been placed under quarantine Wednesday in light of an uninvited and unwelcome visitor: the oriental fruit fly, an invasive pest that attacks over 230 crops including fruits, nuts and vegetables.

From Los Angeles Times

The order by the California Department of Food and Agriculture bars fruit from within the quarantine zone from being distributed outside of it.

From Los Angeles Times

The quarantine zone in Orange County measures 87 square miles, bordered on the north by Anaheim, on the south by John Wayne Airport, on the west by Huntington Beach, and on the east by State Highway 55.

From Los Angeles Times

Residents living in the quarantine zones can help prevent the spread of the oriental fruit flies by not moving those crops from their property.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• detention