Definitions

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

  • transitive verb To cause to be alone or apart, as in being inaccessible or unable to move about.
  • transitive verb To place in quarantine.
  • transitive verb To cause to become socially or politically unengaged or ostracized.
  • transitive verb To render free of external influence; insulate.
  • transitive verb To identify or distinguish as a separate entity or group.
  • transitive verb Chemistry To separate (a substance) in pure form from a combined mixture.
  • transitive verb Microbiology To separate (a pure strain of a microorganism or virus) from a mixed culture.
  • transitive verb Psychology To separate (experiences or memories) from the emotions relating to them.
  • transitive verb To set apart (a component, circuit, or system) from a source of electricity.
  • transitive verb To insulate or shield.
  • adjective Separated from others.
  • noun A person, thing, or group that has been isolated, as by geographic, ecologic, or social barriers.
  • noun Microbiology A population of microorganisms or viruses that has been isolated.
  • noun Linguistics A language isolate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To set or place apart; detach or separate so as to be alone: often used reflexively: as, he isolated himself from all society.
  • In electricity, same as insulate, 3.
  • In chem., to obtain (a substance) free from all its combinations.
  • Isolated; detached.
  • noun In psychology, a feature or quality abstracted by attention from the complex of qualities constituting an object and considered by itself alone; the result of an analysis of a construct.

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

  • noun Something that has been isolated.
  • transitive verb To place in a detached situation; to place by itself or alone; to insulate; to separate from others.
  • transitive verb (Elec.) To insulate. See Insulate.
  • transitive verb (Chem.) To separate from all foreign substances; to make pure; to obtain in a free state.
  • transitive verb (Microbiol.) To obtain a culture of a microorganism in pure form (from a complex mixture).

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

  • verb transitive To set apart or cut off from others.
  • verb transitive To place in quarantine or isolation.
  • verb transitive, chemistry To separate a substance in pure form from a mixture.
  • verb transitive To insulate, or make free of external influence.
  • verb transitive, microbiology To separate a pure strain of bacteria etc. from a mixed culture.
  • verb transitive To insulate an electrical component from a source of electricity.
  • noun Something that has been isolated.

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

  • verb set apart from others
  • verb obtain in pure form
  • verb place or set apart
  • verb separate (experiences) from the emotions relating to them

Etymologies

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

[Back-formation from isolated.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Back-formation from isolated, from French isolé, from Italian insolato, from Latin insulatus (cognate with insulate).

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Examples

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  • Daffynition: Me not on time. (I-(am)-so-late)

    June 16, 2012