insular
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: anatomy
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Etymology: Learned borrowing from Latin īnsulāris (“of or belonging to an island”), from īnsula (“an island”), of uncertain origin.
Inflected forms:
form: more insular
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most insular
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: insulars
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Of or being, pertaining to, situated on, or resembling an island or islands.
pos: adj
examples: Near-synonym: islandic
At the time of the arrival of the Tonquin he had about forty schooners, of from twenty to thirty tons burthen, and one old American ship. With these he held undisputed sway over his insular domains, and carried on intercourse with the chiefs or governors whom he had placed in command of the several islands.
There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs—commerce surrounds it with her surf.
gloss: Separate or isolated from the surroundings; having little regard for others opinions or prejudices; provincial.
pos: adj
examples: Near-synonym: peninsular
During the four years since his puppyhood he had lived the life of a sated aristocrat; he had a fine pride in himself, was even a trifle egotistical, as country gentlemen sometimes become because of their insular situation.
Making Sense of the Sixties used the typical Americanocentric documentary style that avoided a world or historical context for events […] Other countries were mentioned only insofar as they disturbed the insular course of events in the United States.
gloss: Having an inward-looking, standoffish, or withdrawn manner.
pos: adj
examples: Harriet was fretful and insular. Miss Abbott was pleasant, and insisted on praising everything: her only regret was that she had no pretty clothes with her.
gloss: Relating to the insula in the brain.
pos: adj
gloss: Relating to insulin.
pos: adj
gloss: (often with a capital letter) Relating to the varieties of a language or languages spoken chiefly on islands. Insular Latin, Latin as it was spoken in Britain and Ireland. Insular Celtic, the Celtic languages of Britain, Ireland and also Brittany, as opposed to those spoken in mainland Europe other than Brittany. Insular Scandinavian, relating to the Icelandic and Faroese languages as opposed to the ones spoken in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
pos: adj
gloss: An islander.
pos: noun
examples: these insulars in general live in a gross saline air , and their vessels being less elastic are consequently less able to subdue and cast off what their bodies as sponges draw in
Related words: insularism
insulate
insulation
insulator
isolate
isolation
isolator
peninsula
Derived words: adipoinsular
circuminsular
enteroinsular
frontoinsular
insular cortex
insular gray fox
insularity
insularization
insularize
insularly
insular script
insular Spaniard
insular tameness
interinsular
microinsular
monoinsular
noninsular
operculoinsular
palaeoinsular
parainsular
parietoinsular
periinsular
perinsular
retroinsular
septinsular
subinsular
transinsular
uninsular
Translations: