isolation

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a country's withdrawal from international politics

   They opposed the policy of American isolation.

2. 2
   noun

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

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

3. 3
   noun

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

   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.

4. 4
   noun

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

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

5. 5
   noun

   the act of isolating something

6. 6
   noun

   a feeling of being disliked and alone

7. 7
   noun

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

8. 8
   noun

   a state of separation between persons or groups

Etymology

First attested in 1800. From French isolation, from isolé, placed on an island (thus away from other people). Equivalent to isolate + -ion.