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# isolate

verb (isolate, isolates, isolated, isolating); noun (an isolate, isolates — science, rare)

«isolate» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To keep a person or thing apart from others, especially to stop a disease spreading. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#m1)
2. To separate one thing from a mixture or group so you can study it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#m2)
3. To make someone feel alone and left out. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#m3)
4. (maths) To get one letter or number on its own on one side of an equation. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#m4)

### In the lessons

In health lessons and during illness people isolate at home; in science pupils isolate a variable to make a fair test, or scientists isolate a germ; in maths, «isolate x» means get x by itself. In stories and PSHE, being isolated means lonely, and isolating someone on purpose is a kind of bullying. Phrases: self-isolate, isolate the problem, feel isolated, isolated village.

### Examples

- The doctor told him to isolate at home until his fever went away. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#x1)
- Scientists isolated the germ that caused the illness. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#x2)
- To find x, isolate it on one side of the equation. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#x3)
- In a fair test we isolate one variable and keep the others the same. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#x4)
- Leaving a classmate out of every game can isolate them. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#x5)
- The snowstorm isolated the village for three days. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#x6)
- The farm is isolated, ten miles from the nearest shop. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/#x7)

### Note

Regular verb: isolated, isolating. Pronounced EYE-so-late. Adjective: isolated (alone, far away); noun: isolation. «Self-isolate» became a common word during the COVID-19 pandemic.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «isolate» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/isolate/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«isolate» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/isolate.html) on Mova free.