isolationnoun/ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/

• 1

  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.
• 2

  The act of isolating.

• 3

  diplomacygovernmentpoliticsThe 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.
  • 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, […]
• 4

  chemistrynatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesThe obtaining of an element from one of its compounds, or of a compound from a mixture

• 5

  medicinesciencesThe 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.
• 6

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

• 7

  human-sciencespsychologysciencesA Freudian defense mechanism in which a person suppresses a harmful thought from developing into a train of thought.