isolate

Isolate is part of the Academic Word List. It is important for students in college and university.

Pronunciation

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Verb

Plain form isolate

Third-person singular isolates

Past tense isolated

Past participle isolated

Present participle isolating

1. If you isolate something, you make it so that it does not or cannot contact certain other things.

   We want to isolate ourselves from everyday worries.

   The prisoner was isolated to protect him from attack.

   Britain is isolated from the rest of Europe by the Channel.

Related words

• isolation
• isolated
• isolating

Noun

Singular isolate

Plural isolates

1. (countable) An isolate is something that does not or cannot contact certain other things.

   A total of 296 isolates were recovered from 105 patients, 79 (75%) of whom were infected with mycobacteria.

2. (linguistics) An isolate is a language that has no known relatives.