isolate

 

verb

Pronunciation: /ˈʌɪsəleɪt/
[with object]
  • 1cause (a person or place) to be or remain alone or apart from others: a country which is isolated from the rest of the world
  • place (a person or animal) in quarantine as a precaution against infectious or contagious disease.
  • 2identify (something) and examine or deal with it separately: his difficulty will be to isolate the factors which are most significant
  • cut off the electrical or other connection to (something, especially a part of a supply network): engineers isolated the gas supply to the house
  • Chemistry & Biology obtain or extract (a compound, microorganism, etc.) in a pure form: the medical world would never come to grips with polio until it could isolate the virus which caused it

noun

Pronunciation: /ˈʌɪsələt/
  • 1a person or thing which has been or become isolated: social isolates often become careless of their own welfare
  • 2 Biology a culture of microorganisms isolated for study.

Derivatives

isolable

Pronunciation: /ˈʌɪs(ə)ləb(ə)l/
adjective

isolatable

adjective

isolator

noun

Origin:

early 19th century (as a verb): back-formation from isolated