cordon off
phrasal verb
cordoned off; cordoning off; cordons off
: to prevent people from getting into (an area) by putting a line of people or objects around or in front of it
Police cordoned off the street.
Examples of cordon off in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In the classroom above, more volunteers—teachers from schools across Taiwan—crowd around a desktop map of a disaster scenario, discussing where to block traffic, cordon off the public, and station emergency services to best handle whatever crisis is unfolding.
—
Charlie Campbell, Time, 23 Oct. 2025
An image from the scene showed what appeared to be a furniture elevator propped up against a balcony, with police gathered nearby to cordon off the area.
—Mirna Alsharif, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2025
In quant portfolios, strategies that cordon off credit risk are back in fashion.
—Dave Smith, Fortune, 17 Oct. 2025
The danger of the fire and the need for investigators to comb through it, prompted police to cordon off McCandlish Road.
—John Wisely, Freep.com, 3 Oct. 2025
Ride’s sexuality is not treated merely as a footnote to her story, and the documentary asks viewers to understand why the astronaut opted to cordon off a part of her life and live inside a closet of her own making.
—Manuel Betancourt, Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2025
Police cordon off downtown following an incident involving multiple injuries that the FBI is investigating as an act of terror on June 1, 2025 in Boulder, Colorado.
—Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 June 2025
The city should cordon off Battery Park in the same manner.
—Michael Burke, New York Daily News, 24 May 2025
The city will cordon off a section of West Bewick Street connecting South Jennings Avenue and May Street for another month to finish repaving the strip.
—Jaime Moore-Carrillo, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 May 2025
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Charlie Campbell, Time, 23 Oct. 2025
An image from the scene showed what appeared to be a furniture elevator propped up against a balcony, with police gathered nearby to cordon off the area.
—Mirna Alsharif, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2025
In quant portfolios, strategies that cordon off credit risk are back in fashion.
—Dave Smith, Fortune, 17 Oct. 2025
The danger of the fire and the need for investigators to comb through it, prompted police to cordon off McCandlish Road.
—John Wisely, Freep.com, 3 Oct. 2025
Ride’s sexuality is not treated merely as a footnote to her story, and the documentary asks viewers to understand why the astronaut opted to cordon off a part of her life and live inside a closet of her own making.
—Manuel Betancourt, Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2025
Police cordon off downtown following an incident involving multiple injuries that the FBI is investigating as an act of terror on June 1, 2025 in Boulder, Colorado.
—Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 June 2025
The city should cordon off Battery Park in the same manner.
—Michael Burke, New York Daily News, 24 May 2025
The city will cordon off a section of West Bewick Street connecting South Jennings Avenue and May Street for another month to finish repaving the strip.
—Jaime Moore-Carrillo, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cordon off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cordon%20off. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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