isolated

1. 1
   adjective

   Standing apart or alone, separated from others or kept away from outside contact.

   The village remained isolated for months when the only bridge collapsed.

   After the merger, the small department felt increasingly isolated from the rest of the company.

   Similarremote, secluded, inaccessible, detached, alienated

   Oppositeconnected, accessible, integrated

   Note

   The core spatial sense, which came into English as a rendering of French isolé. It fits physical separation most plainly: a lone tree in the mountains, or a village cut off when its only bridge fails. It stretches easily to people and groups kept from contact, such as a department sidelined after a merger. Isolated from is the usual construction when the thing left out is named.

2. 2
   adjective

   Occurring only once, separate from any wider pattern or series of events.

   Investigators concluded the failure was an isolated incident, not a sign of deeper problems.

   Such glitches remained isolated and never affected the broader network.

   Similarone-off, single, solitary, exceptional, anomalous

   Oppositewidespread, common, systemic, frequent

   Note

   Here the separation is in time rather than space: one event standing apart from any pattern. It sits most naturally before nouns of happening, as in an isolated case, an isolated occurrence or an isolated incident. It often works as a reassurance that a failure points to nothing wider. Compare the physical meaning: an isolated village is remote, while an isolated incident is simply not repeated.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of isolate.

   Heavy snowfall isolated the town for nearly a week.

   The new policy isolated several departments from one another.

   Note

   One spelling does the work of two verb forms. It is the simple past (heavy snow isolated the town) and also the past participle after have or be (the town was isolated by snow). The verb is transitive throughout, so it needs an object or a passive. In the passive it shades into the adjective, since a village isolated by a flood is also simply isolated.

4. 4
   adjective

   Describing a medical condition or abnormality that occurs alone, unaccompanied by any associated condition or syndrome.

   The scan revealed an isolated lesion with no signs of spread elsewhere.

   Clinicians classified the malformation as isolated, since no syndrome accompanied it.

   Similarsolitary, single

   Oppositesyndromic

   Note

   Clinicians use it to mark a finding that comes alone. An isolated malformation or lesion appears without the accompanying features that would place it within a recognized syndrome. It is easy to confuse with the laboratory sense, but that sense describes material removed from the body, while this one describes a condition found in it.

5. 5
   adjective

   Separated out from the organism, so that it exists apart from the living body it came from.

   The isolated enzyme retained its activity for several hours outside the cell.

   Researchers compared the isolated tissue with samples still in the body.

   Similarpurified

   Note

   A laboratory sense, describing tissue, cells or an enzyme taken out of the organism so they can be studied on their own. It matches the verb's scientific uses, where to isolate is to separate a substance in pure form or a strain from a mixed culture (see the past-tense verb form). Isolated material is typically set against samples still inside the living body.

6. 6
   adjective

   In forecasting, affecting only ten to twenty percent of a given forecast zone.

   Forecasters predicted isolated thunderstorms, with most of the county remaining clear.

   Coastal areas can expect isolated showers through the afternoon.

   Similarlocalized, sporadic

   Oppositewidespread

   Note

   Forecasters use it as a precise coverage term for precipitation, not a loose word for "here and there." It marks ten to twenty percent of a forecast zone, which is less widespread than scattered, the next step up. So isolated thunderstorms means most of the area stays dry, and the word pairs naturally with showers and storms.

7. 7
   adjective

   In chess, describing a pawn that has no pawn of the same color on either adjacent file.

   Black's isolated pawn on the d-file required constant defense.

   Trading pieces left White with a weak, isolated pawn in the center.

   Oppositeconnected

   Note

   A chess term that applies only to pawns. With no friendly pawn on either neighboring file, an isolated pawn cannot be defended by another pawn, so pieces have to guard it instead. The weakness is felt most in the endgame. In the middlegame, though, the open files beside it can give dynamic compensation, which is why players weigh it rather than simply avoid it.

8. 8
   adjective

   In commutative algebra, describing an associated prime that is minimal under inclusion among the associated primes of a module.

   The isolated primes correspond to the minimal elements of the set of associated primes.

   Localizing at an isolated prime determines its primary component uniquely.

   Similarminimal

   Oppositeembedded

   Note

   In commutative algebra the word picks out the minimal primes among a module's associated primes. Its opposite is embedded: an embedded prime contains another associated prime. The distinction matters because the primary components belonging to isolated primes are uniquely determined, while those at embedded primes depend on the primary decomposition chosen.

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