insular means of or being, pertaining to, situated on, or resembling an island or islands. It carries an Arena rating of 1727, earned across 13 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, insular ranks #414 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,293 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,313 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,552 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
insular is pronounced /ˈɪnsjələ/.
Why “insular” is a great word
Characterized by being isolated from or indifferent to other people, cultures, or ideas; also, pertaining to an island. From the Latin insula ("island") and the adjectival suffix -aris, via Late Latin insularis ("of or belonging to an island"), first attested in English c. 1610s. Unlike "parochial" (which suggests a narrowness born of limited exposure, a smallness enforced by circumstance) or "cosmopolitan" (its direct and gleaming antithesis), "insular" describes a chosen remoteness, a deliberate turning away. It is the fisherman who speaks only to the sea, the taste of bread grown only from native grain, and the warmth of a teacup held too long in still fingers—the quiet conviction that the surrounding water is not a barrier but a boundary, that what lies beyond need not be known because it need not matter.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin īnsulāris (“of or belonging to an island”), from īnsula (“an island”), of uncertain origin.
adj
- Of or being, pertaining to, situated on, or resembling an island or islands.e.g.“Near-synonym: islandic”
- Separate or isolated from the surroundings; having little regard for others opinions or prejudices; provincial.e.g.“Near-synonym: peninsular”
- Having an inward-looking, standoffish, or withdrawn manner.e.g.“Harriet was fretful and insular.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.” — 1905, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter VI, in Where Angels Fear to Tread, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 202:
- Relating to the insula in the brain.
- Relating to insulin.
- (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.
noun
- An islander.e.g.“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” — 1744, George Berkeley, Siris, a chain of philosophical reflections and inquiries, concerning the virtues of tar-water:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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