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isolate

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verb [transitive] British English pronunciation: isolate /ˈaɪsəleɪt/ 
Word Forms
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present tense
I/you/we/theyisolate
he/she/itisolates
present participleisolating
past tenseisolated
past participleisolated
  1. 1
    to keep someone in a place away from other people
    isolate someone from something:

    Important witnesses are isolated from the media for their own safety.

    Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  isolateThesaurus entry for this meaning of isolate
    1. a.
      to keep a person or animal separate from others because they might have a disease that others could catch

      All the patients known to have been in contact with the virus were immediately isolated.

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  isolateThesaurus entry for this meaning of isolate
    2. b.
      to separate something such as an idea or a problem from others so that you can consider it by itself

      We need to isolate the cost of absenteeism to see how big the problem is.

      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  isolateThesaurus entry for this meaning of isolate
    3. c.
      to separate a substance from others using a scientific process
      Thesaurus entry for this meaning of  isolateThesaurus entry for this meaning of isolate

This is the British English definition of isolate. View American English definition of isolate.

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