isolation

American  

[ahy-suh-ley-shuhn, is-uh-] / ˌaɪ səˈleɪ ʃən, ˌɪs ə- /

noun

1. an act or instance of isolating.

2. the state of being isolated.

3. the complete separation from others of a person suffering from contagious or infectious disease; quarantine.

   Synonyms:

   segregation

4. the separation of a nation from other nations by isolationism.

5. Psychoanalysis. a process whereby an idea or memory is divested of its emotional component.

6. Sociology. social isolation.

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isolation British  

/ ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of isolating or the condition of being isolated

2. (of a country, party, etc) nonparticipation in or withdrawal from international politics

3. med

   1. social separation of a person who has or is suspected of having a contagious disease Compare quarantine

   2. ( as modifier )

      an isolation hospital

4. sociol a lack of contact between persons, groups, or whole societies

5. social psychol the failure of an individual to maintain contact with others or genuine communication where interaction with others persists

6. without regard to context, similar matters, etc

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Synonym Usage

See solitude.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• anti-isolation
  adjective
• postisolation
  adjective
• reisolation
  noun

Etymology

Origin of isolation

First recorded in 1825–35; isolate + -ion

Explanation

Isolation means completely alone, like the stranded skiers who were in total isolation after an avalanche stranded them at the top of a mountain. People who live in isolation are completely cut off from the rest of the world, like the hermit who lives in a lonely mountain cabin because no one understands his desire to collect thimbles. A really contagious illness can land patients in isolation at their local hospital, kept separate from the rest of the hospital so they don't share their disease with the other patients. A country can exist in isolation, left alone because other nations don't agree with its policies.

Example Sentences

However, thousands of years of genetic isolation have made the island pine a distinct subspecies, according to the National Park Service.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026

And if we put screening, people will be identified as suspect cases, and we will have to send them away to the isolation that’s hundreds of kilometers away,’ ” Newport said.

From Slate • Jun. 9, 2026

The proposed 50-bed isolation centre is to be staffed by US medics and is intended to treat Americans affected by the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026

There, among the seamstresses in training, Duncan met other welfare mothers, equally desperate, and recognized the stinginess, indifference and bureaucratic aggravations she’d been suffering in isolation were part of a larger system.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026

Colin Maclaurin and Brook Taylor, perhaps the best British mathematicians in the era of isolation from the Continent, discovered how to use calculus to rewrite functions in a totally different form.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

Related Words

• confinement
• desolation
• remoteness
• segregation
• solitude