cordon sanitaire: Meaning and Definition of

cor•don sa•ni•taire

Pronunciation: (Fr. kôr-dôn sa-nē-ter'), [key]
— pl. cor•dons sa•ni•taires
  1. a line around a quarantined area guarded to prevent the spread of a disease by restricting passage into or out of the area.
  2. a group of neighboring, generally neutral states forming a geographical barrier between two states having aggressive military or ideological aims against each other.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.