| 释义 |
isolation|aɪsəʊˈleɪʃən, ɪs-|
[a. F. isolation (1791 in Hatz.-Darm.), n. of action from isoler to isolate.]
1. a. The action of isolating; the fact or condition of being isolated or standing alone; separation from other things or persons; solitariness.
1833H. Martineau Charmed Sea ii. 14 The exiles condemned to the mines run a risk of isolation proportioned to the smallness of their numbers. 1843Carlyle Past & Pr. iv. iv, Isolation is the sum-total of wretchedness to man. 1844Stanley Arnold II. viii. 13 How complete was the isolation in which he found himself, when he was almost equally condemned, in London as a bigot, and in Oxford as a latitudinarian. 1856― Sinai & Pal. viii. (1858) 323 We naturally pass to its isolation from the rest of Palestine. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 21 In savage isolation, stood the obelisk of the Matterhorn. 1876Mozley Univ. Serm. v. 115 To meditate in solitude and isolation on the use of being wise. 1896Sir W. Laurier in Canadian Ho. Assembly 5 Feb., Whether splendidly isolated or dangerously isolated, I will not now debate; but for my part, I think splendidly isolated, because this isolation of England comes from her superiority. 1896Goschen Sp. at Lewes 26 Feb., We have stood alone in that which is called isolation—our splendid isolation, as one of our colonial friends was good enough to call it.
b. The obtaining of a chemical element or compound as a separate substance.
1854J. Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc., Chem. 335 Whether the hypothetical compound ammonium can exist except in combination is unknown. Chemists have failed to accomplish its isolation. 1898G. S. Newth Inorg. Chem. (ed. 6) 471 The method by which Davy first [in 1807] effected the isolation of potassium was by the electrolysis of potassium hydroxide.
c. spec. The complete separation of patients suffering from a contagious or infectious disease, or of a place so infected, from contact with other persons. Also attrib. in isolation hospital, isolation camp, etc., that by which isolation is effected.
1891Daily News 8 Oct. 3/1 A much needed institution in the shape of an Isolation Hospital. 1894Lancet 3 Nov. 1046 Since the new isolation hospital was erected. 1897Daily News 5 Feb. 10/5 Owing to the breakdown of the medical examinations at Bombay numerous pilgrims had already reached Calcutta. He heartily supported the idea of isolation camps.
2. a. Psychol. and Sociol. The separation of a person or thing from its normal environment or context, either for purposes of experiment and study or as a result of its being, for some reason, set apart. Also attrib. or as adj.
1890C. L. Morgan Animal Life & Intelligence viii. 322 We may call the process by which we select a certain quality, and consider it by itself to the neglect of other qualities, isolation. 1902Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. VIII. 37 Thus isolation, apparently confined to a single person, consisting in the negation of sociality, is really a phenomenon of very positive sociological significance. 1934Ibid. XL. 157 The hypothesis is that the cause of schizophrenia is isolation of the person. 1950K. H. Wolff tr. Simmel's Sociol. iii. 119 Isolation thus is a relation which is lodged within an individual but which exists between him and a certain group or group life in general. 1961D. O. Hebb in P. Solomon et al. Sensory Deprivation ii. 7 The isolation procedure seems to be contributing to more effective interrelations between psychiatry and psychology. 1964Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 355/2 Isolation is regarded as one of the dynamic variables in the failure to acquire personality. 1969Zigler & Child in Lindzey & Aronson Handbk. Social Psychol. (ed. 2) III. xxiv. 523 That early isolation increases later aggression is an especially interesting phenomenon which has also been found in mice..and monkeys. 1970G. A. & A. G. Theodorson Mod. Dict. Sociol. 216 The prolonged isolation of an individual from satisfying social..involvement with others usually leads to or is a result of a mental disorder. 1971Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. LXXXV. 107 Isolation fails to enhance total list acquisition. Ibid. 157 Operant tasks were performed in an isolation chamber. 1972Jrnl. Social Psychol. LXXXVI. 106 The results of the experiment showed an isolation effect to the name ‘Cecil’.
b. Psychoanal. A defence mechanism whereby a particular wish or thought loses emotional significance by being isolated from its normal context.
1926Brit. Jrnl. Med. Psychol. VI. 125 In obsessional neurosis the isolation is given magical motor reinforcement—motor isolation is a guarantee for rupture of thought connections. 1937tr. Freud's Gen. Sel. Works 280 Our attention has..been drawn to a process of ‘isolation’ (whose technique cannot as yet be elucidated) which has direct symptomatic manifestations of its own. 1946O. Fenichel Psychoanal. Theory of Neurosis ii. ix. 155 Another mechanism of defense prevalent in compulsion neuroses and of very general significance for psychopathology is isolation. 1951P. M. Symonds Ego & Self xii. 181 The compulsive neurotic may use the mechanism of isolation in which a portion of his personality is walled off through lack of feeling. 1964H. Hartmann Ess. Ego Psychol. i. iii. 48 A tendency toward isolation (‘good’ things must not be contaminated with ‘bad’ things [etc.]). 1970P. Chodoff in H. S. Abram Psychol. Aspects Stress 54 Isolation of affect [among concentration camp inmates], which could be so extreme as to involve a kind of emotional anesthesia, seemed to have functioned particularly to protect the ego.
3. Biol. The limitation or prevention of interbreeding between groups of plants or animals by geographical, ecological, seasonal, or other factors, leading to the development of new species or varieties.
[1859Darwin Origin of Species iv. 105 Isolation, by checking immigration and consequently competition, will give time for a new variety to be improved at a slow rate.] 1913W. Bateson Probl. Genetics vi. 119 The distinctness of the two forms [of the moth Tephrosia bistortata] in the places where they co-exist is maintained by the seasonal isolation. 1929Biol. Abstr. III. 1621/1 If foreign hereditary elements are mixed in a population, correlations will be established, partly through polymery, partly through isolation. 1937T. Dobzhansky Genetics & Origin of Species viii. 230 The mechanisms that prevent the interbreeding of groups of individuals, and consequently engender isolation, are remarkably diversified. 1973I. H. Herskowitz Princ. Genetics xxxvi. 563 Although cross breeding may occur naturally or experimentally between closely related species, each maintains its unique gene pool via reproductive isolation.
▸ isolation tank n. a tank (also a prison cell: cf. tank n.1 4) in which an individual is isolated from others; (in later use) spec. a special light-proof, sound-proof tank in which a person may float in a buoyant salt solution heated to body temperature, in order to achieve sensory deprivation and hence relaxation (cf. flotation n.); also fig.
1920N.Y. Times Mag. 5 Jan. 10/3 When fish get sick,..*isolation tanks are available. 1952Redlands (Calif.) Daily Facts 1 Oct. 4/4 You were guilty of contributory negligence in not making secure the inner cell doors of the isolation tank. 1977Booklist 15 May 1382/3 Lilly here promotes the isolation tank,..which eliminates most outward stimuli and promotes undisturbed and enlarged self-awareness. 1983People (Nexis) 1 Aug. 50 Stars who find life at the beach too exciting take refuge in the Santa Monica Mountains, the ultimate isolation tank of celebrity. 2003Observer 9 Nov. (Mag.) 21/3 He also practises yoga and wing chun [and] floats in an isolation tank. |