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:
Wietrzyk said had been trying to stay offline and had sought to "isolate herself from the world" for a time: "I can't do that forever."
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Aggregate figures cannot isolate Maia’s contribution, so management’s explanation of infrastructure costs and product mix will matter.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Rights group Amnesty International urged countries to "resist" the move, saying the sanctions were "designed to isolate and ultimately destroy" the court.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
"When we're able to maintain the same body weight and observe what happened in the body, we can directly isolate what physical exercise contributed to before weight loss," Moura explains.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
It’s like trying to isolate a snowflake from a blizzard.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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
The team examined thousands of bacterial isolates collected from the human gut, along with large amounts of metagenomic data from people in multiple countries and across different age and health groups.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
While Mr. Graham-Dixon isolates the technical from the theological, Mr. Weber integrated the “optical and iconographic” aspects of Vermeer’s life and work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
By operating as a separate entity, GenCo isolates the cost of new growth to data centers, according to NiSource.
From Barron's ● Apr. 16, 2026
This is how he isolates the true impact of that single switch on the sprawling circuit board.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
Police said they arrested three suspects but the election commission called it an isolated local case.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
Storms will start to arrive on Friday, with stray showers in isolated areas and maximum temperatures 5 to 10 degrees below normal, according to the forecast from the National Weather Service.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
Then we isolated stocks with dividend yields of at least 5.00% that also have estimated FCF headroom of at least 2.00%.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
Derek Story, from Scotby near Carlisle, said it was "disappointing" how long it was taking to get power back on as the lack of a mobile signal meant he felt a bit "isolated".
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Tala Leprosarium is located in the isolated foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains on 1,500 acres of rich, rolling land and sloped terrain.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Our replacement was isolating so we moved closer to town.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
MarketWatch looked at isolating just the days when oil prices rose a lot to see its effect on stocks.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
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
He described it as a "really isolating experience", in a tiny space.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
Jail seems isolating as hell, even when people visit you.
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
