# isolation

Pronunciation: say "y-suh-LAY-shuhn" US/UK /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/, AUS /ˌɑesəˈlæɪʃən/

## Noun

1. The state of being separated or detached from other people.
   - Simple: The condition of being alone or kept apart from other people.
   - _Her isolation grew once her closest friends moved abroad._
   - _Remote researchers must cope with long periods of isolation in the field._
2. The act of separating something or someone from everything else.
   - Simple: The act of keeping someone or something apart from others.
   - _Engineers achieved isolation of the faulty component before testing the rest._
   - _The isolation of one variable is essential to a controlled experiment._
3. The separation of a patient with a contagious disease from contact with others.
   - Simple: Keeping a sick person away from others so an illness cannot spread.
   - _The measles outbreak forced several children into strict isolation._
   - _Nurses follow careful protocols when caring for a patient in isolation._
4. The state of a country having no diplomatic relations with other nations, whether with most countries or with certain specified ones.
   - Simple: The situation of a country that has no friendly ties with other nations.
   - _Economic sanctions deepened the regime's diplomatic isolation._
   - _The treaty ended decades of isolation between the two states._
5. In chemistry, the process of separating out an element from a compound containing it, or a compound from a mixture.
   - Simple: Getting a pure substance out of a mixture or out of one of its compounds.
   - _Chemists reported the isolation of a new element from the radioactive mineral._
   - _The isolation of caffeine from coffee beans is a classic lab exercise._
6. In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism that cuts a distressing thought off from its emotional charge and from the thoughts it would otherwise lead to.
   - Simple: A way the mind blocks a painful thought from leading to more upsetting thoughts.
   - _In analysis, his isolation separated the traumatic event from any emotional response._
   - _Clinicians may recognize isolation when a patient recounts a disturbing memory with no feeling attached._
7. In databases, the property governing when, and in what way, one transaction's changes can be seen by other transactions running at the same time.
   - Simple: A database setting that controls when one user's changes become visible to others.
   - _Stronger isolation reduces anomalies but can lower throughput._
   - _The database's isolation guarantees that uncommitted changes stay hidden from other queries._

## Origin

First attested in 1800, from French isolation, from isolé meaning "placed on an island" (thus away from other people). It is equivalent to isolate + -ion.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/isolation (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).