Pronounced: per-uh-puh-TEE-uh (alt: per-uh-puh-TIE-uh), noun
Notes: Also spelled “peripetia”. It wasn’t what I thought
Yesterday’s word
The word sequester means
- to set apart; segregate
- to seize by authority of a writ
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1300s
Background / Comments
I started reading the Perry Mason stories in my late teens, and the idea of a jury being sequestered was familiar to me. However, the second definition was quite unknown to me. Our word came from the Latin word sequestrare (to hand over to a trustee), which traces back to secus (beside; otherwise).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 