isolation — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The state of being isolated, detached, or separated; the state of being away from other people.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   alonenessseclusion

   Examples

   She lived her final year in complete isolation, not wanting to see anybody.

2. The act of isolating.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

3. The state of not having diplomatic relations with other countries (either with most or all other countries, or with specified other countries).

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable
   • of a country

   Examples

   More examples (3)

   As of 1975, diplomatic ostracism is still imposed by the Organization of American States (OAS). The inter-American community also exercises a trade embargo against Cuba. But even within this context of hemispheric isolation, Havana’s diplomacy is strikingly contradictory.

   Israel could offer to ease North Korea’s isolation with diplomatic recognition, […] ¶ […] But Washington’s strategy of increasing North Korean isolation left no room for back-channel talks with Tel Aviv, […]

   It [Europe] now pressed Washington to begin direct talks with Tehran, but Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, Rice’s point man on Iran, still stressed that diplomatic isolation of Iran—and not diplomatic engagement—was the only acceptable approach for dealing with the Iranian nuclear challenge.

4. The obtaining of an element from one of its compounds, or of a compound from a mixture

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

5. The separation of a patient, suffering from a contagious disease, from contact with others (compare: quarantine)

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Upon returning from the field, he went into isolation for a week so as not to infect anyone with potential diseases.

6. A database property that determines when and how changes made in one transaction are visible to other concurrent transactions.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

7. A Freudian defense mechanism in which a person suppresses a harmful thought from developing into a train of thought.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

Noun

1. a state of separation between persons or groups

   Broader terms

   separation

2. a feeling of being disliked and alone

   Broader terms

   alienationdisaffectionestrangement

3. the act of isolating something; setting something apart from others

   Synonyms

   closing off

   Broader terms

   separation

4. (psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which memory of an unacceptable act or impulse is separated from the emotion originally associated with it

   Broader terms

   defense mechanismdefense reactiondefence mechanismdefence reactiondefensedefence

5. a country's withdrawal from international politics

   Broader terms

   non-engagementnonparticipationnon-involvement

   Examples

   he opposed a policy of American isolation