shut-in

US: /adj. ˈʃʌtˈɪn; n. ˈʃʌtˌɪn/ ,(shut′in′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

shut-in /adj. ˈʃʌtˈɪn; n. ˈʃʌtˌɪn/   adj. 

1. Medicine kept in or unable to leave one's home, a hospital, etc., as from illness:
   a shut-in, elderly patient.

n. [countable]

2. Medicine one forced to remain in a house, a hospital, etc., because of illness:
   He promised to visit all the many shut-ins.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

shut-in  (shut′in′), adj. 

1. Medicine confined to one's home, a hospital, etc., as from illness.
2. Psychiatry disposed to desire solitude;
   withdrawn;
   asocial.
3. Mining, Energy (of an oil or gas well) temporarily sealed up.

n. 

4. Medicine a person confined by infirmity or disease to the house, a hospital, etc.
5. Energy Also called shut′-in well′. an oil or gas well that has been closed down.

• adjective, adjectival, noun, nominal use of verb, verbal phrase shut in 1840–50, American.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

shut-in noun

1. a person confined indoors by illness
2. (as modifier): a shut-in patient
3. a condition in which the patient is highly withdrawn, engages in solitary activities, and is unable to express his or her own feelings
   See also schizoid