ISOLATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does isolation mean? 

• ISOLATION (noun)
  The noun ISOLATION has 5 senses:

1. a state of separation between persons or groups

2. a feeling of being disliked and alone

3. the act of isolating something; setting something apart from others

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

5. a country's withdrawal from international politics

  Familiarity information: ISOLATION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ISOLATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state of separation between persons or groups

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("isolation" is a kind of...):

separation (the state of lacking unity)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "isolation"):

solitude (the state or situation of being alone)

purdah; solitude (a state of social isolation)

loneliness; solitariness (the state of being alone in solitary isolation)

quarantine (enforced isolation of patients suffering from a contagious disease in order to prevent the spread of disease)

detachment; insularism; insularity; insulation (the state of being isolated or detached)

alienation; estrangement (separation resulting from hostility)

anomie; anomy (personal state of isolation and anxiety resulting from a lack of social control and regulation)

concealment; privacy; privateness; secrecy (the condition of being concealed or hidden)

Derivation:

isolate (place or set apart)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A feeling of being disliked and alone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("isolation" is a kind of...):

alienation; disaffection; estrangement (the feeling of being alienated from other people)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of isolating something; setting something apart from others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

closing off; isolation

Hypernyms ("isolation" is a kind of...):

separation (the social act of separating or parting company)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "isolation"):

quarantine (isolation to prevent the spread of infectious disease)

Sense 4

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("isolation" is a kind of...):

defence; defence mechanism; defence reaction; defense; defense mechanism; defense reaction ((psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires)

Domain category:

psychiatry; psychological medicine; psychopathology (the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)

Derivation:

isolate (separate (experiences) from the emotions relating to them)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A country's withdrawal from international politics

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he opposed a policy of American isolation

Hypernyms ("isolation" is a kind of...):

non-engagement; non-involvement; nonparticipation (withdrawing from the activities of a group)

 Context examples 

Sand dunes, whether in deserts, on river bottoms or sea beds, rarely occur in isolation and instead usually appear in large groups, forming striking patterns known as dune fields or corridors.

(Sand dunes can ‘communicate’ with each other, University of Cambridge)

It often involves the isolation, manipulation and reintroduction of DNA, usually to express a protein.

(Genetically Engineered Mouse, NCI Thesaurus)

SARS-CoV-1 was eradicated by intensive contact tracing and case isolation measures and no cases have been detected since 2004.

(New coronavirus stable for hours on surface, National Institutes of Health)

It may be a manifestation of systemic sarcoidosis or may also arise in isolation.

(Cutaneous Sarcoidosis, NCI Thesaurus)

Biological proof that the lesions are at high risk of malignant transformation depends on identification, isolation and transplantation of the focus into the mammary fat pad.

(Intraepithelial Neoplasia of the Mouse Mammary Gland, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

Isolation is sometimes used to prevent disease from spreading.

(Isolation, NCI Dictionary)

He was too self-possessed, too strongly poised in his own isolation.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Isolation of materials from solution based on their differential solubility in different liquids.

(Extraction Purification, NCI Thesaurus)

Alas, this isolation—this banishment from my kind!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Upon isolation, transduction, expansion ex vivo, and reintroduction into the patient, the NY-ESO-1 reactive TCR-transduced autologous PBLs bind to NY-ESO-1-overexpressing tumor cells.

(NY-ESO-1 Reactive TCR Retroviral Vector Transduced Autologous PBL, NCI Thesaurus)