isolate

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

/ verb ˈaɪ səˌleɪt; noun, adjective ˈaɪ sə lɪt, -ˌleɪt /

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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.

Nearby words

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

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

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|DAILY BEAST
If any of the animals die, make complete post-mortem examinations and endeavour to isolate the pathogenic organisms.
The Elements of Bacteriological Technique|John William Henry Eyre
Isolate we have indeed been as a people, but not provincially nor narrowly nor proudly isolate.
Christianity and Problems of To-day: Lectures Delivered Before Lake Forest College on the Foundation of the Late William Bross|John Huston Finley
Isolate over the garden-wall was the face; the rest of the man and all the horse were hidden behind it.
The Flight of the Shadow|George MacDonald
We are at least enabled to isolate a problem for investigation.
Logic, Inductive and Deductive|William Minto
But though you can individualize it and propagate it indefinitely, you cannot isolate it from its fuel and keep it by itself.
Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3)|Charles Eliot

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

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).

Medicine definitions for isolate

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.

isolate

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

noun

adjective

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Nearby words

Origin of isolate

Examples from the Web for isolate

isolate

verb (ˈaɪsəˌleɪt) (tr)

noun (ˈaɪsəlɪt)

Word Origin for isolate

isolate

isolate

v.

n.