Definition

1. Verb:
   • To separate or set apart from others: To cause a person, group, or thing to be alone or detached from its usual surroundings or connections.
   • To identify or obtain something separate from a mixture: In scientific contexts, to separate a substance, germ, gene, etc., from its combined state so it can be studied or used alone.
   • To experience or consider separately from associated emotions or contexts: To detach a specific experience or fact from its emotional or situational background.

Usage and Examples

• Separating People or Things:
  • The doctor decided to isolate the patient with the contagious disease.
  • The small village was isolated by the heavy snowfall.
• Scientific Separation:
  • Researchers worked for years to isolate the gene responsible for the condition.
  • The chemist was able to isolate the active ingredient from the plant extract.
• Emotional or Contextual Separation:
  • Try to isolate the facts of the case from the rumors you've heard.
  • In therapy, he learned to isolate his work stress from his home life.

Advanced Usage

• "to isolate oneself": To deliberately separate oneself from others.
  • After the argument, she chose to isolate herself in her room.
• In Passive Voice: Often used to describe the state of being separated.
  • The compound is isolated in a secure laboratory for testing.
  • Feeling isolated at a new school is common.

Variants and Related Words

• Isolated (adj): Far away from other places, buildings, or people; remote; or, single and happening only once.
  • They live in an isolated farmhouse.
  • This was an isolated incident, not a pattern.
• Isolation (n): The state of being separated from other people, or a situation in which something is considered separately.
  • The prisoner was kept in solitary isolation.
  • Scientists studied the virus in isolation.

Synonyms

• Separate: To cause to move or be apart.
• Seclude: To keep (someone) away from other people.
• Quarantine: To isolate to prevent the spread of disease.
• Segregate: To set apart from the rest or from each other.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Constructions

• Isolate from: The most common construction, specifying what something is being separated from.
  • It is important to isolate the malfunctioning component from the rest of the system.
  • You cannot isolate his artistic work from the political turmoil of his time.

Related Idioms/Phrases

• (To be) in isolation: To be alone or separated.
  • The sample was analyzed in isolation.
• Isolate the problem: To identify the specific cause of a malfunction or issue.
  • The mechanic's first job was to isolate the problem with the engine noise.

Verb

1. separate (experiences) from the emotions relating to them
2. set apart from others
   • The dentist sequesters the tooth he is working on
3. obtain in pure form
   • The chemist managed to isolate the compound
4. place or set apart
   • They isolated the political prisoners from the other inmates