isolate
Americanverb (used with object)
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isolates,
present (3rd person singular)
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isolated,
past participle, past
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isolating
present participle
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to set or place apart; detach or separate so as to be alone.
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Medicine/Medical. to keep (an infected person) from contact with noninfected persons; quarantine.
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Chemistry, Bacteriology. to obtain (a substance or microorganism) in an uncombined or pure state.
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Electricity. to insulate.
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Television. to single out (a person, action, etc.) for a camera closeup.
noun
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a person, thing, or group that is set apart or isolated, as for purposes of study.
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Psychology. a person, often shy or lacking in social skills, who avoids the company of others and has no friends within a group.
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Biology. an inbreeding population that is isolated from similar populations by physiological, behavioral, or geographic barriers.
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Also called language isolate. Linguistics. a language with no demonstrable genetic relationship, as Basque.
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something that has been isolated, as a by-product in a manufacturing process.
an isolate of soy flour.
adjective
verb
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to place apart; cause to be alone
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med to quarantine (a person or animal) having or suspected of having a contagious disease
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to obtain (a compound) in an uncombined form
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to obtain pure cultures of (bacteria, esp those causing a particular disease)
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electronics to prevent interaction between (circuits, components, etc); insulate
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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isolabilitynoun
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isolatornoun
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reisolateverb (used with object)
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unisolateverb (used with object)
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isolableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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isolatesimple
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isolatessimple
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have isolatedperfect
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has isolatedperfect
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am isolatingprogressive
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are isolatingprogressive
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is isolatingprogressive
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have been isolatingperfect progressive
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has been isolatingperfect progressive
Past
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isolatedsimple
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had isolatedperfect
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was isolatingprogressive
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were isolatingprogressive
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had been isolatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of isolate
First recorded in 1800–10; back formation from isolated
Explanation
When you remove or set apart one thing from others, you isolate it. You could isolate yourself from people by living in a remote hut or, if you're a biologist, you could isolate a chromosome. The verb isolate comes from the adjective isolated, which comes from the Latin insulatas, meaning “made into an island.” You may have heard the John Donne quote, “No man is an island.” Donne was claiming that no matter how much you might try to isolate yourself from the rest of humanity, in the end people are all connected to one another. Humanity’s need for connectedness may, in fact, be illustrated by the fact that jailers frequently isolate criminals as punishment.
Vocabulary lists containing isolate
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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List 15
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Vocabulary from "Community is the 'killer app' missing from virtual reality" by Dmitri Williams
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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:
She also called for more funding to help with patchy transport in the region's rural areas, which can isolate disabled people.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
While the brief looked at a variety of economic outcomes — including employment, wages and general inflation — looking at rental conditions alone can help isolate how housing markets spill over into people’s everyday lives.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
The lawsuit alleges that others “enabled Burke to isolate the decedent” and “facilitated” his travel, housing and security.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
When horses showed symptoms, Mr. Dugatkin writes, veterinarians and stable hands “did not isolate or quarantine them because they did not believe the disease was spread from one animal to another.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
Today, it is well understood that the disease is not highly contagious; therefore there is no reason to isolate anyone.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
I tried to make the point, when I began the book, that the people who were involved with chatbots were social isolates.
From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2026
Each successful mission further isolates Russians at the front.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Both the CQC and NHS England say there is no category that isolates private GP registrations.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026
Using an SPV, he said, not only keeps the debt separate but also isolates the risk of a particular project.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2025
This isolates the bedroom, with me in it, from the rest of the rover.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Lhamo, who was born in Shangri-La in 1997, just a few years before its tourist-minded rebranding, still remembers when the city was a one-stoplight town, poor and isolated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
As federal investigators try to determine the cause of the crash, island residents are mourning the dead and confronting the trade-offs of life so isolated from the rest of Southern California.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
Resuming blaring K-pop music -- which the isolated North has long bristled at -- across the border has been floated by analysts as a possible response to last month's blast.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Glasgow Caledonian is far from an isolated case.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
At first, glaciers blocked the way from Alaska to the rest of America, allowing no more than perhaps a few isolated pioneers to investigate the lands further south.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Backed by child protection groups, Marquetty unsuccessfully opposed the closed-door proceedings, arguing that it was "paradoxical" for a defendant accused of isolating his victims to be tried behind closed doors.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
For the wistful, lovelorn loner, it’s an imperative reminder that being attached at the hip can still be isolating, no matter how much two people think alike.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
These include rapid diagnosis, isolating infected patients, tracing people who may have been exposed, strengthening infection control, and providing supportive medical care.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
The incidents show that the AI companies need to have stronger, industrywide standards for isolating their systems during cyber testing, said Alex Stamos, chief product officer with the cybersecurity company Corridor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
The deep black grooves isolating his square chin from his jowls were bent again in a kind of jeering and reprehensible mirth.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
