as in barricade
a line of people or objects that are placed around or in front of a person or place to keep people away
A cordon of police kept protesters away from the building.
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Recent Examples of cordon
About two dozen street vendors who were forced to pack up their wares as detectives investigated the shooting were spotted waiting outside the police cordon following the incident.
—
Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 7 Dec. 2024
Police set up a wide cordon around the London embassy as officers dealt with a suspicious package.
—Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 26 Nov. 2024
Scuffles broke out as police officers pushed back activists trying to get past a cordon.
—Giada Zampano and Sylvia Hui, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2024
Embassy staff were kept under lockdown and U.S. Apache helicopters hovered overhead as the pro-Iranian militia supporters breached the outer cordon, burned American flags, ransacked guard posts, and sought to scale the walls before U.S. marines pushed them back with tear gas.
—Emma Sky, Foreign Affairs, 3 Jan. 2020
See all Example Sentences for cordon 
Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 7 Dec. 2024
Police set up a wide cordon around the London embassy as officers dealt with a suspicious package.
—Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 26 Nov. 2024
Scuffles broke out as police officers pushed back activists trying to get past a cordon.
—Giada Zampano and Sylvia Hui, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2024
Embassy staff were kept under lockdown and U.S. Apache helicopters hovered overhead as the pro-Iranian militia supporters breached the outer cordon, burned American flags, ransacked guard posts, and sought to scale the walls before U.S. marines pushed them back with tear gas.
—Emma Sky, Foreign Affairs, 3 Jan. 2020
See all Example Sentences for cordon
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Cite this Entry
“Cordon.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cordon. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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