adjective / adverb

incommunicado

in-kuh-myoo-nih-KAH-doh/ˌɪnkəˌmjuːnɪˈkɑːdəʊ/

Without communication with other people.

The officer blocks the detained man's telephone access, keeping him incommunicado.

A detained man behind a locked cell door reaches toward a telephone handset, but an officer outside holds it out of reach and firmly blocks access with his other hand.

Etymology

Communicare pictures communication as sharing or making something common. The negative prefix marks being cut off from that exchange, whether unable to contact others or forbidden to do so.

In context

Best Documentary18:15

I was then transferred to another place, where it was incommunicado. It was not the secret detention houses, the torture houses, but it was like a prison, but nobody knew.

Augusto Pinochet: The Coup, the Torture & the West

More examples

She remained incommunicado during the remote expedition.
For two days the missing travelers were incommunicado.
Officials refused to explain why he was kept incommunicado.

Forms

incommunicado

Similar words

isolated: Isolated can mean physically apart; incommunicado specifically means unable to communicate with others.
unreachable: Unreachable means not contactable; incommunicado can emphasize imposed denial of communication.