isolate

[ahy-suh-leyt, ahy-suh-lit, -leyt]

verb (used with object)

isolated, isolating 

1. to set or place apart; detach or separate so as to be alone.

2. Medicine/Medical.,  to keep (an infected person) from contact with noninfected persons; quarantine.

3. Chemistry, Bacteriology.,  to obtain (a substance or microorganism) in an uncombined or pure state.

4. Electricity.,  to insulate.

5. Television.,  to single out (a person, action, etc.) for a camera closeup.

noun

1. a person, thing, or group that is set apart or isolated, as for purposes of study.

2. Psychology.,  a person, often shy or lacking in social skills, who avoids the company of others and has no friends within a group.

3. Biology.,  an inbreeding population that is isolated from similar populations by physiological, behavioral, or geographic barriers.

4. Also called language isolate. Linguistics.,  a language with no demonstrable genetic relationship, as Basque.

5. something that has been isolated, as a by-product in a manufacturing process.

   an isolate of soy flour.

adjective

1. isolated; alone.

isolate

verb

1. to place apart; cause to be alone

2. med to quarantine (a person or animal) having or suspected of having a contagious disease

3. to obtain (a compound) in an uncombined form

4. to obtain pure cultures of (bacteria, esp those causing a particular disease)

5. electronics to prevent interaction between (circuits, components, etc); insulate

noun

1. an isolated person or group

Other Word Forms

• isolator noun
• reisolate verb (used with object)
• unisolate verb (used with object)
• isolable adjective
• isolability noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of isolate¹

First recorded in 1800–10; back formation from isolated

Word History and Origins

Origin of isolate¹

C19: back formation from isolated, via Italian from Latin insulātus, literally: made into an island; see _insulate

Example Sentences

"This finding raises fundamental questions: how did evolution reprogram the same protein to act in reverse? What changed? And is this an isolated case or part of a broader evolutionary pattern?"

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Israel is as isolated as at any time since it became independent in 1948.

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The new rules exacerbated other causes on both the A320neo and its predecessor, helping transform what had been mostly isolated incidents into a pattern of repeat offenders, the Journal’s analysis suggests.

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“I became really, really isolated in the same way that he is,” he says of the creature.

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Sakaguchi then isolated mature T-cells from genetically identical mice and injected them into the mice without a thymus, and that appeared to protect them.

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Related Words

• confine 
• detach 
• disconnect 
• disengage 
• divide 
• insulate 
• remove 
• segregate 
• separate 
• sequester