a line or ring of police officers, soldiers, etc. guarding something or stopping people from entering or leaving a place Demonstrators broke through the police cordon. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivetight, police, security, … verb + cordonform, throw, break through, … cordon + verbprevent something prepositioncordon around, cordon round See full entry See related entries: The police Word Originlate Middle English (denoting an ornamental braid): from Italian cordone, augmentative of corda, and French cordon, diminutive of corde, both from Latin chorda ‘string, rope’, from Greek khordē ‘gut, string of a musical instrument’. Wordfinderpolicearrest, charge, cordon, detain, detective, interrogate, plain clothes, police, raid, undercoverExtra examples Police officers threw a cordon around his car to protect him. The crowd managed to break through the police cordon. The security forces have formed a cordon around the apartment. There is a tight security cordon around the area.
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