insular

comparative more insular · superlative most insular

1. Of, being, pertaining to, situated on, or resembling an island or islands.

   Near-synonym: islandic

   2 more examples

   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

   Synonyms: islandic

2. Separate or isolated from the surroundings; having little regard for others' opinions or prejudices; provincial.

   Near-synonym: peninsular

   2 more examples

   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

   Synonyms: peninsular

3. Having an inward-looking, standoffish, or withdrawn manner.

   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

4. anatomyRelating to the insula in the brain.
5. biochemistryRelating to insulin.
6. anthropology(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.

plural insulars

1. An islander.

   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