isolate

Verb

isolate (third-person singular simple present isolates, present participle isolating, simple past and past participle isolated)

1. (transitive) To set apart or cut off from others.
   • By isolating these two main types of relation, hyponymy and incompatibility, we can characterize the relations between a large web of items.1977, Ruth Kempson, Semantic Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 86
   • Iran could not be happier. The more Israel sinks into the West Bank, the more it is delegitimized and isolated, the more the world focuses on Israel’s colonialism rather than Iran’s nuclear enrichment, the more people call for a single democratic state in all of historic Palestine.2014 May 4, Thomas L. Friedman, “Sheldon: Iran’s Best Friend”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 31 Mar 2020

   Synonyms:

   island, enisle, quarantine

2. (transitive) To place in quarantine or isolation.

   Synonyms:

   quarantine

3. (transitive) To separate a substance in pure form from a mixture.
   • To isolate the petroline the condensed oil is distilled again until fifty per cent. of oil has been obtained, and what is left in the still is petroline.1871, English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1871, 901 - 946, page 6
4. (transitive) To insulate, or make free of external influence.
   • One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891, archived from the original on 09 Jan 2025
5. (transitive) To separate a pure strain of bacteria etc. from a mixed culture.
6. (transitive) To insulate an electrical component from a source of electricity.
7. (intransitive) To self-isolate.

   Synonyms:

   self-quarantine

Noun

IPA/ˈaɪ.sə.lət/

isolate (plural isolates)

1. Something that has been isolated.
   • We used electropherotypes in order to differentiate the original parental strains or isolates from the finally tumor cell-adapted isolates.2016 February 2, “Experimental Adaptation of Rotaviruses to Tumor Cell Lines”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI

Adjective

isolate (not comparable)

1. (literary) isolated.
   • He said in his heart, the day his beard was shaven he was beaten, lost. He identified it with his isolate manhood.1923, D.H. Lawrence, Kangaroo, chapter XII
   • Its snaky acid kiss.
     It petrifies the will. These are the isolate, slow faults
     That kill, that kill, that kill.1961, Sylvia Plath, “Elm [published originally as "The Elm Speaks"]”, in Ariel, HarperPerennial, →ISBN, page 16