isolate

[verb ahy-suh-leyt; noun, adjective ahy-suh-lit, -leyt]

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verb (used with object), i·so·lat·ed, i·so·lat·ing.

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

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

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

Electricity. to insulate.

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

noun

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

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

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

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

something that has been isolated, as a by-product in a manufacturing process: an isolate of soy flour.

adjective

isolated; alone.

Origin of isolate

First recorded in 1800–10; back formation from isolated

Related formsi·so·la·tor, nounre·i·so·late, verb (used with object), re·i·so·lat·ed, re·i·so·lat·ing.un·i·so·late, verb (used with object), un·i·so·lat·ed, un·i·so·lat·ing.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for isolate

disengage, confine, disconnect, divide, separate, insulate, remove, segregate, sequester, detach, seclude, divorce, abstract, part, sunder, quarantine, sever, island

Examples from the Web for isolate

Contemporary Examples of isolate

JUDNICK: My reaction is so visceral that I immediately, like you, isolate myself so I can breathe.
The Unbearable Whiteness of Protesting
Rawiya Kameir, Judnick Mayard
December 10, 2014
They are, after all, carefully selected “types,” and to isolate them runs the risk of seeing the book as an allegory.
Albert Camus, Our Existential Epidemiologist
Malcolm Jones
October 17, 2014
We can do that because of two things: strong health care…and strong public health that can track contacts and isolate them.
CDC Director: First U.S. Ebola Patient ‘Critically Ill’
Abby Haglage
September 30, 2014
Backed by NATO solidarity and economic sanctions with teeth, it just might isolate Putin enough that he backs off.
This Really Is Obama's Moment of Truth
Jonathan Alter
September 4, 2014
He made a decision to isolate himself, so I would ask did he think he was going to die when he realized he was exposed?
Sanjay Gupta, on the Ebola Front Lines
Tim Teeman
August 4, 2014

Historical Examples of isolate

But we do not isolate the comic personage as we do the solitary, tragic figure.
The American Mind
Bliss Perry
Like Hermione, he wished to isolate Vere, to preserve her as she was in character.
A Spirit in Prison
Robert Hichens
The winter seemed to isolate them from the world still more.
His Masterpiece
Emile Zola
You see, I've had to be careful—not to isolate you from life—life as it is.
The World Beyond
Raymond King Cummings
It seeks to isolate itself from matter and sense, and to assert its independence in thought.
Theaetetus
Plato

British Dictionary definitions for isolate

isolate

verb (ˈaɪsəˌleɪt) (tr)

to place apart; cause to be alone

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

to obtain (a compound) in an uncombined form

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

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

noun (ˈaɪsəlɪt)

an isolated person or group

Derived Formsisolable, adjectiveisolability, nounisolator, noun

Word Origin for isolate

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for isolate

by 1786, a new formation from isolated (q.v.).

The translation of this work is well performed, excepting that fault from which few translations are wholly exempt, and which is daily tending to corrupt our language, the adoption of French expressions. We have here evasion for escape, twice or more times repeated; brigands very frequently; we have the unnecessary and foolish word isolate; and, if we mistake not, paralize, which at least has crept in through a similar channel. Translators cannot be too careful on this point, as it is a temptation to which they are constantly exposed. ["The British Critic," April 1799]

As a noun from 1890, from earlier adjectival use (1819).

isolate in Medicine

isolate

[ī′sə-lāt′]

v.

To set apart or cut off from others.

To place in quarantine.

To separate a pure strain from a mixed bacterial or fungal culture.

To separate or remove a chemical substance out of a combined mixture.

To separate experiences or memories from the emotions relating to them.

n.

A bacterial or fungal strain that has been isolated.

Related formsi′so•la′tor n.