island

Syllables: is·land

More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations

Western/ˈaɪlənd/South Asia/aj.læɳɖ/

island noun: a contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, totally surrounded by water. Also the ellipsis of kitchen island.

Image: The Cosmonaut, CC BY-SA 2.5 ca, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

island (plural islands)

A contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, totally surrounded by water.
- No man is an Iland, intire of it ſelfe; euery man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; […]1624, John Donne, “17. Meditation”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, pages 415–416
- It's only an island if you look at it from the water…1975, Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, Jaws, spoken by Brody (Roy Scheider)
(broadly) A contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, partially surrounded by water; a peninsula; a half-island.
- Despite its name, Barry Island is actually a peninsula
An entity surrounded by other entities that are very different from itself.
- The quiet library was an island of tranquility in the noisy, bustling city.
- an island of colors on a butterfly's wing
Synonyms:

oasis
A superstructure on an aircraft carrier's deck.
A traffic island.
- the island in the middle of a roundabout
(West-Midlands, broadly) A roundabout; a traffic circle.
- Dunton island, near Birmingham, is one of the most confusingly labelled islands in the U.K.
- In Coventry, you will often hear people say: “Turn right at the island”.
A bench, counter, etc., that is not connected to a wall or other furniture and which can be used from any side.
- A short, rather studious young woman on noticing him moved from behind an island counter.1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XXII, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 216
An unincorporated area wholly surrounded by one or more incorporated areas.
A phrase from which a wh-word cannot be extracted without yielding invalid grammar.
- Adverbial subordinate clauses are islands for extraction: "They have a billion dollars of inventory that they don't know where *(it) is".

Verb

island (third-person singular simple present islands, present participle islanding, simple past and past participle islanded)

(transitive) To surround with water; make into an island.
- We paused at little river cities along the way and walked upon their bushy dikes, and heard tales of overflows in flood seasons, when four feet or more of water islanded the houses.1933, Harriet Monroe, Poetry, volume 42
- The car soon seemed islanded in water.1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 138
(transitive) To set, dot (as if) with islands.
- the many-islanded Aegean
- God dwells in light! Before the ocean of unmeasured space, was islanded with stars serenely bright, reflecting back the radiance of his face - he dwelt above in heaven’s immortal bliss, thinking into existence that which is.1842, T. H. Chivers, “The Song of Seralim: A Celestial Melologue”, in Magnolia; Or Southern Appalachian, volume II, number 1, page 52
(transitive) To isolate.
- The turkey's nest was islanded with a fragrant swath,—the "heft" of the crop noted and rejoiced over,—the tons of good timothy and clover calculated,— […]1865, [Adeline Dutton Train Whitney], “The Secret at the Hartshornes”, in The Gayworthys: A Story of Threads and Thrums. […], Boston, Mass.: [A. K.] Loring, […], →OCLC, page 49
- High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam / Islanded in Severn stream.1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] XXVII”, in A Shropshire Lad, London: The Richards Press, →OCLC

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Island

the Island

(New-York-City) Long Island (in New York State).
- Candy came from out on the Island / In the backroom, she was everybody's darling1972, Lou Reed, “Walk on the Wild Side”, in Transformer
(New-Jersey) Long Beach Island.
(British-Columbia) Vancouver Island.
- A grizzly was photographed at Rugged Point near Kyuquot on the northwest coast of the Island in May, close to the time bears emerge from their dens, suggesting it had successfully hibernated on the Island.2008 December 8, “Grizzlies at home on the Island”, in Times Colonist
- And so, my lovely girlfriend Kari and I headed to the Island for a weekend of wines and dines.2010 October 12, Beau Simpson, “One 'Grape escape' on Vancouver Island”, in Surrey Now
(Canada, colloquial) Synonym of Prince Edward Island.

Synonyms:

Prince Edward Island
(Internet, euphemistic) Epstein Island.
(UK, colloquial) HM Prison Parkhurst, a prison on the Isle of Wight.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Island

Island

(obsolete) Obsolete form of Iceland.
- […] Island, Groonland, Estotiland […]1624, John Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles

Also used as

island is also the ellipsis of kitchen island.

island meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

island in Hindi

area of land completely surrounded by water: द्वीप dvīp, टापू ṭāpū, जज़ीरा jazīrā, उपद्वीप upadvīp

island in Tamil

area of land completely surrounded by water: தீவு tīvu

island in Marathi

area of land completely surrounded by water: बेट beṭ

island in Urdu

area of land completely surrounded by water: ٹاپُو ṭāpū, جَزِیرَہ jazīra

More languagesFewer languages

island in Bengali: দ্বীপ dip, জিঞ্জিরা jinjira
island in Telugu: దీవి dīvi, ద్వీపము dvīpamu
island in Malayalam: ദ്വീപ് dvīpŭ
island in Kannada: ದ್ವೀಪ dvīpa
island in Punjabi: ਟਾਪੂ ṭāpū, ٹاپو ṭāpv
island in Gujarati: દ્વીપ dvīp, ટાપુ ṭāpu
island in Odia: ଟାପୁ ṭāpu, ଦ୍ୱୀପ dwipa
island in Sanskrit: जलवेष्टितभूमि jalaveṣṭitabhūmi, द्वीप dvīpa
island in Sinhala: දිවයින diwayina
island in Assamese: দ্বীপ dip
island in Nepali: द्वीप dvīp, टापू ṭāpū
island in Pashto: ټاپو ṭāpu, جزيره jazira
island in Tagalog: pulo
island in Arabic: جَزِيرَة jazīra, جزيرة gezīra
island in Malay: pulau, nusa
island in Indonesian: pulau, nusa
island in Persian: جَزِیرَه jazīra, جَزیرِه jazire, گَنْگ gang
island in Thai: เกาะ gɔ̀
island in Vietnamese: đảo
island in Myanmar: ကျွန်း kywan:, ဒီပါ dipa
Sindhi: ٻيٽُ ḇetu
Dhivehi: ޖަޒާ jazā
Kashmiri: لانٛکھ lānkh, جٔزیٖرٕ jạzīrụ, زُو zuv

Examples of island in a sentence

Sumatra is the second largest island in the East Indies and the fourth largest in the world covering 182,859 square miles.2002, Gordon L. Rottman, World War 2 Pacific island guide:
He was an island of composure, floating in his 39th goal of the season with a delicate chip into the corner.2018 April 10, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London):
King Leopold, speaking in fluent English during his six minute broadcast, said Belgium stood side by side with Holland "an Island of peace in the interests of all"1939 October 27, Deseret News, Roosevelt Reaffirms American Neutrality:
This Apulia is a land of vast pastures and cornfields and olive gardens, islanded with many rich cities, notable if only for the splendour of their churches,[…]1915, Edward Hutton, Naples and Southern Italy, page 22:

All 40 example sentences with island

Synonyms of island

All synonyms of island

Forms of island

Noun
plural	islands
alternative form (obsolete)	iland
alternative form (obsolete)	yland
alternative form (obsolete)	ylond
alternative form (obsolete)	ylelond
Verb
third-person singular present	islands
present participle	islanding
past participle	islanded
past	islanded

Plural of island: islands

Origin of island

From earlier iland, from Middle English iland, yland, ylond, from Old English īeġland, from Proto-West Germanic *auwjuland, from Proto-Germanic *awjōlandą (from Proto-Germanic *awjō (“island, waterland, meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ekʷeh₂) + *landą (“land”), equivalent to ey + land. Doublet of Öland. Cognate with Scots island, iland, yland (“island”), West Frisian eilân (“island”), Saterland Frisian Ailound (“island”), Dutch eiland (“island”), Low German Eiland (“island”), German Eiland (“island”), Swedish ö (“island”), Öland (“Sweden's second largest island”), Danish ø (“island”), Norwegian øy (“island”), øyland (“large island”), Icelandic eyland (“island”). The insertion of ⟨s⟩—a 16th century spelling modification—is due to a change in spelling to the unrelated term isle, which previously lacked s (cf. Middle English ile, yle). The re-addition was mistakenly carried over to include iland as well. Related also to German Aue (“water-meadow”), Latin aqua (“water”). More at ea.

Words formed from island

Phrases with island

175 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with island

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about island

What does island mean?: Island means a contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, totally surrounded by water.
What is island in Hindi?: Island in Hindi is द्वीप (dvīp), टापू (ṭāpū), जज़ीरा (jazīrā). See Island meaning in Hindi.
How do you use island in a sentence?: Sumatra is the second largest island in the East Indies and the fourth largest in the world covering 182,859 square miles.
What part of speech is island?: Island can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce island?: Island is pronounced /ˈaɪlənd/ (Western).
What is the plural of island?: The plural of island is islands.

Words near island in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: island (page history and authors); Island (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-island.ogg, En-us-island.ogg.

Cite this entry: “island.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/island. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.