isolate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to separate someone or something from others

   Doctors decided to isolate the patient to stop the infection from spreading.

2. 2
   verb

   to keep someone apart so that they have little contact with other people

   His extreme views isolated him from the rest of the group.

3. 3
   verb

   to separate a single substance or thing from a mixture in order to study it

   Scientists managed to isolate the gene responsible for the disease.

Back-formation from isolated, from French isolé, from Italian isolato, from Latin īnsulatus (whence also insulate), see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3).

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