i ‧ so ‧ late AC /ˈaɪsəleɪt/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ isolation , ↑ isolationism , ↑ isolationist ; adjective : ↑ isolated , ↑ isolationist ; verb : ↑ isolate ]
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: isolated ]
1 . to separate one person, group, or thing from other people or things:
The town was isolated by the floods.
The US has sought to isolate Cuba both economically and politically.
isolate somebody from somebody
Presley’s phenomenal early success isolated him from his friends.
isolate somebody from something
New born babies must be isolated from possible contamination.
2 . if you isolate an idea, problem etc, you consider it separately from other things that are connected with it
isolate something from something
It is impossible to isolate political responsibility from moral responsibility.
3 . technical to separate a substance, disease etc from other substances so that it can be studied
isolate something from something
The hepatitis B virus has been isolated from breast milk.