Insular Meaning
/ˈɪnsjələ/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjOf or being, pertaining to, situated on, or resembling an island or islands.
adjSeparate or isolated from the surroundings; having little regard for others opinions or prejudices; provincial.
Sentence Examples
Never travelling leads to an insular worldview.
The fact that no one ever moves in makes the community more and more insular.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ islanders rarely interacted with foreign traders.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small village had a very ____ community that was often quite suspicious of any new outsiders.
Word Origin & History
Learned borrowing from Latin īnsulāris (“of or belonging to an island”), from īnsula (“an island”), of uncertain origin.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1836 October, Washington Irving, chapter VI, in Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, page 67:
"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."
— 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Loomings”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 1:
"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."
— 1903 July, Jack London, “Into the Primitive”, in The Call of the Wild, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, pages 18–19:
"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."
— 1991 February 4, Owen Shows, “Start Making Sense”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 28, page 16:
"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:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ islanders rarely interacted with foreign traders.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small village had a very ____ community that was often quite suspicious of any new outsiders.