Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Far from others or difficult to get to; remote.
  • adjective Occasional or rare.
  • adjective Characterized by little social contact.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Standing detached from others of a like kind; placed by itself or alone.
  • In chem., pure; freed from combination.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Placed or standing alone; detached; separated from others.
  • adjective (Geom.) See Acnode.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Placed or standing apart or alone; in isolation.
  • adjective chess Such that no pawn of the same color is in an adjacent file.
  • adjective meteorology, of precipitation affecting 10 percent to 20 percent of a forecast zone.
  • verb Simple past tense and past participle of isolate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective marked by separation of or from usually contiguous elements
  • adjective cut off or left behind
  • adjective not close together in time
  • adjective remote and separate physically or socially
  • adjective being or feeling set or kept apart from others
  • adjective under forced isolation especially for health reasons

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From French isolé, from Italian isolato, from Latin īnsulātus, made into an island, from īnsula, island.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word isolated.

Examples

  • Marker had published various studies on diosgenin, a saponin isolated from a Mexican yam species of the genus Dioscorea, and had discovered how to synthesize the human hormone testosterone and progesterone from diosgenin.

    Did You Know? Birth control pills come from Mexican yams 2008

  • Marker had published various studies on diosgenin, a saponin isolated from a Mexican yam species of the genus Dioscorea, and had discovered how to synthesize the human hormone testosterone and progesterone from diosgenin.

    Did You Know? Birth control pills come from Mexican yams 2008

  • A Liverpool police spokesman says police are taking swift and robust action to what he calls "isolated outbreaks of disorder."

    London Riots Spread to Other British Cities 2011

  • Ben Venue's Mr. Kurtz said the company immediately began an investigation of the container, which he called an "isolated incident," and reported the incident to the police.

    New Lapses at J&J's Doxil Supplier Peter Loftus 2011

  • A Liverpool police spokesman says police are taking swift and robust action to what he calls "isolated outbreaks of disorder."

    London Riots Spread to Other British Cities 2011

  • He has filed a criminal case against her for allegedly glorifying what he calls isolated incidents and generalizing the city as Talibanized.

    India News Digest: Gold scales new peak 2009

  • In response to Wall Street Journal questions about the Tribune holding its story at Mr. Fitzgerald's request, Tribune spokesman Gary Weitman cited a statement released Tuesday by Gerould Kern, the Tribune's editor, in which he said that such requests are granted in what he called isolated instances.

    Article Put More Pressure on the FBI to Move In 2008

  • On Fox News, conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer and Bill O'Reilly cautioned not to judge the entire drug war by the video, which they characterized as an isolated incident.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Radley Balko 2011

  • They steadfastly maintained that their original inquiry, which led to the conviction of one reporter and one private investigator, had put an end to what they called an isolated incident.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2011

  • It also noted what it called "isolated examples" of anti-U.S. sentiment such as flag burning during protests and warned that foreigners could become targets.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2012

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • In chess, a pawn with no pawns in the adjacent files.

    February 21, 2007