ISOLATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does isolate mean? 

• ISOLATE (verb)
  The verb ISOLATE has 4 senses:

1. place or set apart

2. obtain in pure form

3. set apart from others

4. separate (experiences) from the emotions relating to them

  Familiarity information: ISOLATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ISOLATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they isolate    ... he / she / it isolates   
Past simple: isolated   
Past participle: isolated   
-ing form: isolating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Place or set apart

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

insulate; isolate

Context example:

They isolated the political prisoners from the other inmates

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:

Obtain in pure form

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The chemist managed to isolate the compound

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 3

Meaning:

Set apart from others

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

isolate; keep apart; sequester; sequestrate; set apart

Context example:

The dentist sequesters the tooth he is working on

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

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

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

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)

 Context examples 

They isolated FluA-20 antibody from a person who had received many influenza immunizations.

(Human antibody reveals hidden vulnerability in influenza virus, National Institutes of Health)

Many oncogene-containing members of the genus have been isolated.

(Alpharetrovirus, NCI Thesaurus)

Borrelidin was isolated from the bacteria Streptomyces about 50 years ago.

(Scientists Discover Antibiotic Mechanism, NIH)

An aminoglycoside antibiotic isolated from Micromonospora sagamiensis var. nonreducans.

(Micronomicin, NCI Thesaurus)

The team next isolated exosomes in blood samples taken from healthy people and patients with breast cancer or pancreatic cancer.

(Method for Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer, NIH)

The antitumor antibiotic CC-1065, a DNA minor-groove-binding alkylating agent, was originally isolated from the bacterium Streptomyces zelensis.

(Anti-CD70 Antibody-Drug Conjugate MDX-1203, NCI Thesaurus)

The researchers conducted a series of experiments showing that vesicles isolated from four strains of Lactobacillus bacteria interfere with the ability of HIV to infect cells.

(Vesicles released by bacteria may reduce the spread of HIV in human tissue, National Institutes of Health)

The peptide that researchers focused on in this study was isolated from a wasp known as Polybia paulista.

(Venom of Wasp, Bee Repurposed as Antibiotic Drug, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A replication-defective murine sarcoma virus isolated from a rhabdomyosarcoma by Moloney in 1966.

(Moloney Sarcoma Virus, NCI Thesaurus)

A. piechaudii is normally found in soil but has been isolated from human clinical material.

(Achromobacter piechaudii, NCI Thesaurus)