isle
Americannoun
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isles
plural
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a small island.
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any island.
verb (used with object)
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to make into or as if into an isle.
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to place on or as if on an isle.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of isle
1250–1300; Middle English i ( s ) le < Old French < Latin īnsula
Explanation
An isle is a small island. The Isle of Capri, off the coast of Italy, is one of the most famous isles in the world. There is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle. Some people say it's simply a matter of taste: isle sounds more poetic and romantic. Actually, there's no precise definition of island either, other than it's a piece of land surrounded by water and smaller than a continent. A good way to remember that an isle is a small island is that the word isle is smaller than island: this is a little word for a little thing.
Vocabulary lists containing isle
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
An Irish carpenter acquired the isle in Florida’s Lake Marion in the 1880s and built the main house by hand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
After checking he had not broken any bones, he hauled himself up and started heading in the direction of the Glen Rosa ferry terminal miles away, intending to travel off the isle.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
Like Santorini, Milos is a volcanic isle that is home to one of Greece's most unique beaches, Sarakiniko.
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
The two homes sit on 1.2 acres on the popular vacation isle: a 5,200-square-foot main residence and a two-bedroom guesthouse.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 17, 2025
There was a pause, then Joseph heard his uncle whisper, “‘Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.”’
From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick
The contested isles are part of the volcanic Kuril archipelago, which runs in a broad arc from Russia's Kamchatka peninsula down to Japan's main northern island Hokkaido.
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
Searching out the echoes of the Celtic foundation, Mr. Robb expresses the current mood of the isles and Western Europe more broadly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
At the very least, it has gorgeous shots of the sun-soaked Greek isles.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 31, 2025
The yard services the Royal Navy's research ships, including HMS Sir David Attenborough, and the ships Serco operates between Aberdeen and the northern isles.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2025
No one in this place knew him: they were travelers, from other isles, who had not heard the Song of the Sparrowhawk.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
What days could ever be so long As those our pristine Summers poised O'er a charmed valley isled among Their bright slow-breaking tides unnoised?
From King Lear's Wife; The Crier by Night; The Riding to Lithend; Midsummer-Eve; Laodice and Dana? by Gordon Bottomley
Here Rose and Magnolia Our dearest enshrine, The prayer of the south wind Is thine and is mine, For Child and for Mother Here sweetly twice isled, Brave Seamen are praying For Mother and Child.
From Memories of Canada and Scotland — Speeches and Verses by John Douglas Sutherland Campbell
Nay, rather, isled amid the stream— Watching the flood—and, half in dream Guessing the sources whence it rose, And musing to what Deep it flows.
From The Poems of William Watson by William Watson
Tho’ all men else their nobler dreams forget, Confused by brainless mobs and lawless Powers; Thank Him who isled us here, and roughly set His Briton in blown seas and storming showers...
From Tennyson and His Friends by Various
The aspect of the windows is nearly south, and the prospect includes the plain of the Marchfeld, with the isled Danube and Lobau in the extreme distance.
From The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy
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