Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense insulates, present participle insulating, past tense, past participle insulated
1. verb
If a person or group is insulatedfrom the rest of society or from outside influences, they are protected from them.
They wonder if their community is no longer insulated from big city problems. [beV-ed + from/against]
Their wealth had insulated them from reality. [V n + from/against]
Synonyms: isolate, protect, screen, defend More Synonyms of insulate
insulationuncountable noun
They lived in happy insulation from brutal facts. [+ from]
2. verb
To insulate something such as a building means to protect it from cold or noise by covering it or surrounding it in a thick layer.
...a scheme to insulate the homes of pensioners and other low-income households. [VERB noun]
Is there any way we can insulate our home from the noise? [V n + from/against]
Are your hot and cold water pipes well insulated? [VERB-ed]
...a garment lined with a light insulating material. [VERB-ing]
Synonyms: cover, wrap, enclose, swathe More Synonyms of insulate
3. verb
If a piece of equipment is insulated, it is covered with rubber or plastic to prevent electricity passing through it and giving the person using it an electric shock.
In order to make it safe, the element is electrically insulated. [beVERB-ed]
...electrical insulating tape. [VERB-ing]
insulate in British English
(ˈɪnsjʊˌleɪt)
verb(transitive)
1.
to prevent or reduce the transmission of electricity, heat, or sound to or from (a body, device, or region) by surrounding with a nonconducting material
2.
to isolate or detach
Word origin
C16: from Late Latin insulātus: made into an island
insulate in American English
(ˈɪnsəˌleɪt; ˈɪnsʊˌleɪt; ˈɪnsjʊˌleɪt)
verb transitiveWord forms: ˈinsuˌlated or ˈinsuˌlating
1.
to set apart; detach from the rest; isolate
2.
to separate or cover with a nonconducting material in order to prevent the passage or leakage of electricity, heat, sound, radioactive particles, etc.
Word origin
< L insulatus, made like an island < insula, isle
Examples of 'insulate' in a sentence
insulate
The closing in of the weather, the gloom, the sleet, had all conspired to insulate him.
Thomas, Craig THE LAST RAVEN (2001)
Many of them lived underground, letting the land itself insulate them from the sun's killing heat.