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Language Foundation

quarantine

In email security, quarantine is the state in which an email message or attachment is kept separate from normal delivery or access because it is suspected of being harmful or unwanted.

In plain English

A quarantined message or attachment is set apart from normal delivery or access. It is held separately because it is suspected of being harmful or unwanted.

In context

Here, quarantine reports that the message is being kept separate from normal delivery or access because it is suspected of being harmful or unwanted.

Situation
Responding to phishing, suspicious activity, fraud, and compromise alerts
What it communicates
reports the message's protected holding status.

Meaning limits

By itself, this status does not show whether the suspicion is correct or what will happen to the message next.

Examples

“The email was placed in quarantine instead of being delivered after its attachment was flagged as suspicious.”

Core meaning

“The missing invoice email was still in quarantine when the recipient checked why it had not arrived.”

In context

  • medical isolation to prevent the spread of disease Alternate Sense

    Another sense of quarantine concerns people, animals, or places kept apart for health protection.