Library / English Dictionary

ISOLATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Place or set apart

Example:

They isolated the political prisoners from the other inmates

Synonyms:

insulate; isolate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "isolate" is one way to...):

discriminate; separate; single out (treat differently on the basis of sex or race)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "isolate"):

segregate (separate or isolate (one thing) from another and place in a group apart from others)

ghettoise; ghettoize (put in a ghetto)

cloister (seclude from the world in or as if in a cloister)

seclude; sequester; sequestrate; withdraw (keep away from others)

quarantine (place into enforced isolation, as for medical reasons)

maroon (leave stranded on a desert island without resources)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

isolable (capable of being isolated or disjoined)

isolation (a state of separation between persons or groups)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Set apart from others

Example:

The dentist sequesters the tooth he is working on

Synonyms:

isolate; keep apart; sequester; sequestrate; set apart

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "isolate" is one way to...):

disunite; divide; part; separate (force, take, or pull apart)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Obtain in pure form

Example:

The chemist managed to isolate the compound

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "isolate" is one way to...):

acquire; get (come into the possession of something concrete or abstract)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "isolate"):

preisolate (isolate beforehand)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

isolable (capable of being isolated or disjoined)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Separate (experiences) from the emotions relating to them

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "isolate" is one way to...):

assort; class; classify; separate; sort; sort out (arrange or order by classes or categories)

Domain category:

psychological science; psychology (the science of mental life)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

isolable (capable of being isolated or disjoined)

isolation ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which memory of an unacceptable act or impulse is separated from the emotion originally associated with it)

Credits

 Context examples: 

M. paraoxydans is pathogenic and one of the most common species of Microbacterium to be isolated from clinical specimens.

(Microbacterium paraoxydans, NCI Thesaurus)

They often separated from each other and took their chances travelling in small pockets of isolated groups.

(Ancient DNA analysis unlocks secrets of Ice Age tribes in the Americas, University of Cambridge)

In previous work, they isolated broadly neutralizing antibodies from people and produced them in the lab.

(HIV Immunotherapy Promising in First Human Study, NIH)

The researchers have identified and isolated cells within different cancerous growths which we call the "cell of origin".

(‘Energetic Cancer Cells’ May Be Origin of Cancer Spread, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A naturally occurring substance isolated from the seeds of the plant Ammi majus with photoactivating properties.

(Methoxsalen, NCI Thesaurus)

Isolating the molecule and treating germ-free flies with it was sufficient to slow down the speedwalkers.

(Gut bacteria may control movement, National Institutes of Health)

A. dentrificans is normally found in soil but has been isolated from human clinical specimens.

(Achromobacter denitrificans, NCI Thesaurus)

The scientists were able to isolate the hybrid hepatocytes after observing how the tissue regenerated.

(Newly discovered cells restore liver damage in mice without cancer risk, NIH)

The body releases chemicals that cause blood vessels to leak and tissues to swell in order to isolate a foreign substance from further contact with the body’s tissues.

(Researchers discover otulipenia, a new inflammatory disease, NIH)

M. lincolnii has been isolated from humans with respiratory infections.

(Moraxella lincolnii, NCI Thesaurus)