seclude

American  

[si-klood] / sɪˈklud /

verb (used with object)

secluded, secluding

1. to place in or withdraw into solitude; remove from social contact and activity, etc.

2. to isolate; shut off; keep apart.

   They secluded the garden from the rest of the property.

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seclude British  

/ sɪˈkluːd /

verb

1. to remove from contact with others

2. to shut off or screen from view

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Other Word Forms

• unsecluding adjective

Etymology

Origin of seclude

1425–75; late Middle English < Latin sēclūdere, equivalent to sē- se- + -clūdere, combining form of claudere to close

Explanation

When you seclude someone, you separate them from other people. A Buddhist monk might seclude himself in a remote place to meditate alone for several weeks. Most people use the verb seclude to talk about shutting themselves away from society or keeping themselves separate from others. An eccentric family might seclude itself from the neighbors, for example. The root is Latin, secludere, which means "shut off or confine," from se, "apart" and cludere, "to shut." Originally, seclude was used to mean "to enclose or confine," and by the 1620s it also meant "to keep from public view."

Example Sentences

Gore and Bush were able to seclude themselves at home, refraining from public comment for days on end.

From Washington Post • Nov. 5, 2020

At one point, he suggests that to help make up her mind she go away from London, where they live, and seclude herself in a cottage in Wales.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 22, 2018

It’s a different world here in Santa Cruz, an easier place to seclude yourself, to find some anonymity.

From New York Times • Jun. 26, 2018

It sells anonymous offshore companies that help the owners seclude their business dealings.

From BBC • Nov. 5, 2017

I have sometimes thought it a grave fault thus to seclude ourselves from the world, and live apart from our neighbors.

From The Man from Jericho by Litsey, Edwin Carlile

Related Words

• cloister
• ostracize
• sequester