isolated
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of isolated
First recorded in 1755–65; equivalent to French isol(é) (from Italian; see isolato) + -ate 1 + -ed 2
Explanation
Isolated means far away from everyone or everything else. The hermit who lives on a remote island is isolated from the rest of the world, with nothing but coconuts and fish to keep him company. The word isolated comes from the Latin word insula, which means island. You don't have to be on a remote island to feel isolated, though. Even people who live in big cities can feel a sense of isolation if they don't have many friends and spend a lot of time alone. In addition to remote or set apart, isolated can mean a single event, or incident. The high school students assured their principal that the cafeteria food fight was an isolated incident, promising that it would never, ever happen again.
Vocabulary lists containing isolated
A Long Walk to Water
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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.
The onetime Obama voter had assumed she would be politically isolated in the conservative county.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2026
Unlike conventional laboratory experiments that examine isolated cells, these systems can reproduce important interactions between different tissues.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 10, 2026
When B-Real’s not on the road, though, he’s a resident of Moorpark in Ventura County, where he says life can feel slower and more isolated than it did in his youth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
There were isolated incidents where the welfare framework was not fully implemented.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
The music, the anthem of Saturday night debauch, filtered to them through the jail stones that now enveloped them, isolated them with Junior Palmer.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
