insular

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   suggestive of the isolated life of an island

   an exceedingly insular man

2. 2
   adj

   relating to or characteristic of or situated on an island

   insular territories

3. 3
   adj

   Of or being, pertaining to, situated on, or resembling an island or islands.

   Near-synonym: islandic

4. 4
   adj

   Separate or isolated from the surroundings; having little regard for others opinions or prejudices; provincial.

   Near-synonym: peninsular

5. 5
   adj

   Having an inward-looking, standoffish, or withdrawn manner.

   Harriet was fretful and insular. Miss Abbott was pleasant, and insisted on praising everything: her only regret was that she had no pretty clothes with her.

6. 6
   noun

   An islander.

   these insulars in general live in a gross saline air , and their vessels being less elastic are consequently less able to subdue and cast off what their bodies as sponges draw in

7. 7
   adj

   narrowly restricted in outlook or scope

8. 8
   adj

   Relating to the insula in the brain.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin īnsulāris (“of or belonging to an island”), from īnsula (“an island”), of uncertain origin.