isolated
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- isolatedly adverb
- semi-isolated adjective
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.
She was still isolated, pushing her views to people and hoping they’d stick.
From Salon • Apr. 29, 2026
A person, confused and distressed by unwanted images they cannot control, can be left feeling like a predator, extremely isolated and overcome with shame.
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
Pyongyang closed its borders in January 2020 to stop the spread of the coronavirus, with research and media reports indicating that the diplomatically isolated nation spent subsequent years bolstering security along its frontiers.
From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026
The researchers describe this as a weakly structured stem, meaning the roots of modern humans were not one isolated population, but a loose set of connected populations with ongoing gene flow.
From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2026
They would all be isolated from each other, each thinking it was alone.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
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.
