isolate

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To set apart or cut off from others.

   • By isolating these two main types of relation, hyponymy and incompatibility, we can characterize the relations between a large web of items.
2. 2

   To place in quarantine or isolation.

3. 3

   To separate a substance in pure form from a mixture.

   • To isolate the petroline the condensed oil is distilled again until fifty per cent. of oil has been obtained, and what is left in the still is petroline.
4. ›+ 6 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To insulate, or make free of external influence.

      • One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.
   2. 5

      To separate a pure strain of bacteria etc. from a mixed culture.

   3. 6

      To insulate an electrical component from a source of electricity.

   4. 7

      To self-isolate.

   5. 8

      Something that has been isolated.

      • We used electropherotypes in order to differentiate the original parental strains or isolates from the finally tumor cell-adapted isolates.
   6. 9

      isolated.

      • He said in his heart, the day his beard was shaven he was beaten, lost. He identified it with his isolate manhood.
      • Its snaky acid kiss. It petrifies the will. These are the isolate, slow faults That kill, that kill, that kill.
      • Narrow Yung-ch'ung streets quiet, / temple gardens all isolate mystery, / no one visits.

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