Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Physically or socially separate and remote: Describes something or someone that is far away from others, either in distance or in social connection.
   • Placed apart from others, especially for health reasons: Refers to being separated to prevent the spread of disease or contamination.
   • Single and separate, not part of a connected series or group: Indicates something occurring alone or infrequently, not as part of a pattern.
   • Feeling alone or set apart from others: Describes the emotional state of being alone or disconnected from a group.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:
  • The farmhouse was completely isolated on the hill. (It was alone and far from other houses.)
  • Patients with the infectious disease were kept isolated. (They were separated from others to prevent spread.)
  • There were only a few isolated incidents of vandalism. (The incidents were single, unconnected events.)
  • After moving to a new city, she felt very isolated. (She felt alone and disconnected from people.)

Advanced Usage

• "to feel isolated": to experience a sense of loneliness or separation from others, often emotionally or socially.
  • Working from home can sometimes make people feel isolated.
• "in isolated cases": in rare, individual instances.
  • The side effect only occurs in isolated cases.
• "an isolated phenomenon": an event or occurrence that stands alone and is not typical or connected to others.
  • The sudden frost in July was an isolated phenomenon.

Variants and Related Words

• Isolate (verb): To set apart or separate from others.
  • Scientists worked to isolate the virus.
• Isolation (noun): The state of being isolated.
  • The prisoner was kept in isolation.
• Isolating (adjective): Causing a feeling of isolation.
  • The experience was very isolating.

Synonyms

• Remote: Far away, distant.
• Secluded: Kept away from others, private.
• Separated: Set apart.
• Detached: Disconnected, separate.
• Solitary: Alone, single.

Related Phrases

• "to be in isolation": to be in a state of being completely separated from others.
  • The hiker was in isolation for days after getting lost.
• "to become isolated": to become separated or cut off from others.
  • The village became isolated after the bridge collapsed.

Related Idioms

• "An island unto itself": Something that is completely isolated or self-contained. (Note: This idiom uses a different core word but expresses a similar concept of isolation.)
  • The research department operated as an island unto itself.

Adjective

1. remote and separate physically or socially
   • existed over the centuries as a world apart
   • preserved because they inhabited a place apart- W.H.Hudson
   • tiny isolated villages remote from centers of civilization
   • an obscure village
2. under forced isolation especially for health reasons
   • a quarantined animal
   • isolated patients
3. cut off or left behind
   • an isolated pawn
   • several stranded fish in a tide pool
   • travelers marooned by the blizzard
4. marked by separation of or from usually contiguous elements
   • little isolated worlds, as abruptly disjunct and unexpected as a palm-shaded well in the Sahara- Scientific Monthly
5. being or feeling set or kept apart from others
   • she felt detached from the group
   • could not remain the isolated figure he had been- Sherwood Anderson
   • thought of herself as alone and separated from the others
   • had a set-apart feeling
6. not close together in time
   • isolated instances of rebellion
   • a few stray crumbs