Meanings
- All people are connected to and dependent on other people.
Just as no man is an island, no nation lives in isolation. When freedom is denied in one country, it is diminished in all.
1992, Richard Nixon, “The Renewal of America”, in Seize the Moment, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 3013 more examples
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. […] any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, […]
1623, John Donne, “Meditation XVII”, in Devotions upon Emergent OccasionsThe few friends and relatives I once had seem to have forgotten me and I have found out the hard way that no man is an island.
1981 April 4, Rick Cornely, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, page 15And yet, no man is an island, and Sokurov's desire to promote himself as an insular, unique figure, both in his thinking and in his work, is contradicted by the many arrangements and obligatory associations that cinematic production entails.
2014, Jeremi Szaniawski, The Cinema of Alexander Sokurov, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 231
Origin
From the 1623 quotation below.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 沒有人是一座孤島 /没有人是一座孤岛
- 沒有人是一座孤島 /没有人是一座孤岛 (méiyǒu rén shì yī zuò gūdǎo)all people are dependent on other people
Danish alle mennesker er forbundne og afhængige af andre mennesker
- alle mennesker er forbundne og afhængige af andre menneskerall people are dependent on other people
Finnish yksikään ihminen ei ole saari
- yksikään ihminen ei ole saariall people are dependent on other people
Irish is ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine
- is ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoineall people are dependent on other people
Japanese なんぴとも一島嶼にてはあらず
- なんぴとも一島嶼にてはあらずall people are dependent on other people
Portuguese ninguém é uma ilha
- ninguém é uma ilhaall people are dependent on other people
Swahili mtu ni watu
- mtu ni watuall people are dependent on other people
Vietnamese không ai là một hòn đảo
- không ai là một hòn đảoall people are dependent on other people
Cite this entry
no man is an island. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no%20man%20is%20an%20island
“no man is an island.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no%20man%20is%20an%20island. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “no man is an island,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/no%20man%20is%20an%20island.
Source: no man is an island on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.