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removal or separation; banishment or exile.
a withdrawal into seclusion; retirement.
segregation from others; isolation:
sequestration of jurors during a trial.
Law.

the sequestering of property.
confiscation or seizure.

Chemistry. the combining of metallic ions with a suitable reagent into a stable, soluble complex in order to prevent the ions from combining with a substance with which they would otherwise have formed an insoluble precipitate, from causing interference in a particular reaction, or from acting as undesirable catalysts.
the trapping of a chemical in the atmosphere or environment and its isolation in a natural or artificial storage area:
Carbon sequestration can reduce global warming.

the process of implementing an automatic cut in government spending across most departments, agencies, etc.:
efforts to avoid or delay sequestration.
an instance of this:
An $80 billion sequestration would lead to massive layoffs.

Contemporary Examples

Ross Douthat has a grimly ironic take on sequestration: Yes it’s dumb, but so are we.
The Sequestration ‘The Public’ Deserves? David Frum March 4, 2013

In reality, sequestration and the shutdown have done real, lasting damage to the economy and to the Joe and Ethels of the world.
Crying Wolf on Capitol Hill Joe McLean October 10, 2013

This year, with tax increases and sequestration, fiscal drag will be about 1.5 percent of GDP.
Don’t Do it, Congress! David Frum January 28, 2013

We knew the Bush tax cuts were expiring, we knew the sequestration cuts were coming in.
Fiscal Cliff a ‘Self-Inflicted Crisis,’ Says John Avlon John Avlon December 4, 2012

It is also illegal in France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, punishable by fines and the sequestration of the animals.
Germany Weighs Bestiality Ban Amid Rise of Pet Porn, Animal Brothels Barbie Latza Nadeau November 30, 2012

Historical Examples

One plan for raising money was the sequestration of Church property.
Mexico Susan Hale

Listen: in the first place, he puts you under a sort of sequestration.
Louise de la Valliere Alexandre Dumas, Pere

The sequestration must be complete when a man with a dinky little cap on his ear is not allowed to talk to the girls.
Last Words Stephen Crane

“That would mean the sequestration of our claims,” said Ingleby.
Delilah of the Snows Harold Bindloss

He would not now enter into a discussion of the question of sequestration.
Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. I (of 16) Thomas Hart Benton

noun
the act of sequestering or state of being sequestered
(law) the sequestering of property
(chem) the effective removal of ions from a solution by coordination with another type of ion or molecule to form complexes that do not have the same chemical behaviour as the original ions See also sequestrant
n.

c.1400, from Late Latin sequestrationem (nominative sequestratio) “a depositing,” noun of action from past participle stem of Latin sequestrare (see sequester).

sequestration se·ques·tra·tion (sē’kwĭ-strā’shən, sěk’wĭ-)
n.

The formation of a sequestrum.

Loss of blood or of its fluid content into spaces within the body, so that the circulating volume diminishes.

The inhibition or prevention of normal ion behavior by combination with added materials, especially the prevention of metallic ion precipitation from solution.