Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb & adjective Without the means or right of communicating with others.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective In a state or condition in which one is unable or unwilling to communicate.
  • adverb In a manner in which communication with outsiders is not possible, for either voluntary or involuntary reasons, especially due to confinement or reclusiveness.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective without the means or right to communicate

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish incomunicado, past participle of incomunicar, to deny communication : in-, not (from Latin; see in–) + comunicar, to communicate (from Latin commūnicāre; see communicate).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish incomunicado "incommunicado", with spelling influenced by that of such English words as communicate.

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Examples

  • In Uganda, for example, we have documented long-term incommunicado detention, torture and, in some cases, deaths of alleged treason and terrorism suspects at the hands of the government's Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force.

    Maria Burnett: How Not to Address the Uganda Bombings Maria Burnett 2010

  • In Uganda, for example, we have documented long-term incommunicado detention, torture and, in some cases, deaths of alleged treason and terrorism suspects at the hands of the government's Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force.

    Maria Burnett: How Not to Address the Uganda Bombings 2010

  • "The military is detaining people incommunicado, which is illegal, and so it is effectively disappearing people," said Heba Morayef of

    NYT > Home Page By LIAM STACK 2011

  • He continued to be held incommunicado, that is without contact with the outside world, including his family and lawyers, until August 2005, from when his wife was allowed to visit him on a monthly basis.

    Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases 2009

  • Bush wasn't "incommunicado", he was out of the public eye.

    Is it foolish to question whether the Vice President is part of the Executive Branch? Ann Althouse 2008

  • Suggestions that detainees are being held "incommunicado" are simply not true.

    Guantanamo Is a Model Prison (Really) Mark H. Buzby 2008

  • Mostly, however, she seems to be held in some kind of incommunicado status until they need a sound bite, and then they throw the power switch, download the text and out she spits it, with all the emotion of an automaton.

    Condi a Waste of Time 2007

  • Except for tight beam transmissions directly to you, you have been 'incommunicado' due to the disturbances caused by the disaster.

    Before Destruction Rossi, Michael 1991

  • The officers and privates were supposed to be strictly "incommunicado," but even these found means of communication.

    History of Kershaw's Brigade D. Augustus Dickert

  • The man, John Makepiece, with Broxton Day, of Granadas district, had been held "incommunicado" for months by the bandit, Raphele.

    Janice Day at Poketown Helen Beecher Long

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