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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
insular
adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Landres is a small, insular community in the Midwest.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Insular

Insular \In"su*lar\, a. [L. insularis, fr. insula island: cf. F. insulaire. See Isle.]

  1. Of or pertaining to an island; of the nature, or possessing the characteristics, of an island; as, an insular climate, fauna, etc.

  2. Of or pertaining to the people of an island; narrow; circumscribed; illiberal; contracted; as, insular habits, opinions, or prejudices.

    The penury of insular conversation.
    --Johnson.

Insular

Insular \In"su*lar\, n. An islander. [R.]
--Berkeley.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
insular

1610s, "of or pertaining to an island," from Late Latin insularis, from Latin insula "island" (see isle). Metaphoric sense "narrow, prejudiced" is 1775, from notion of being cut off from intercourse with other nations, especially with reference to the situation of Great Britain. Earlier adjective in the literal sense was insulan (mid-15c.), from Latin insulanus.

Wiktionary
insular

a. 1 Of, pertaining to, being, or resembling an island or islands. 2 situate on an island. 3 Separate or isolated from the surroundings; having little interaction with external parties; provincial. 4 Having an inward-looking, standoffish, or withdrawn manner. 5 Relating to the insula in the brain. n. An islander.

WordNet
insular
  1. adj. relating to or characteristic of or situated on an island; "insular territories"; "Hawaii's insular culture"

  2. suggestive of the isolated life of an island; "an exceedingly insular man; so deeply private as to seem inaccessible to the scrutiny of a novelist"- Leonard Michaels

  3. narrowly restricted in outlook or scope; "little sympathy with parocial mentality"; "insular attitudes toward foreigners" [syn: parochial]

Wikipedia
Insular

Insular may refer to:

  • Adjective describing an island
  • Insular area of the United States
    • Insular Cases and the Bureau of Insular Affairs, relating to US political history in these areas
  • Insular Region (disambiguation)
    • Insular Chile, otherwise known as the "Insular Region"
    • Insular Italy, otherwise known as the "Insular Regions"
    • Insular Region (Colombia)
    • Insular Region (Equatorial Guinea)
    • Insular Region (Venezuela)
    • Insular Southeast Asia
    • Autonomous Regions of Portugal, otherwise known as "Insular Portugal"
    • Galápagos Islands, otherwise known as the "Insular Region" of Ecuador
  • Adjective describing someone who is isolated and parochial
  • Insular, the term used for Criollo people in the Spanish East Indies
  • Insular art, the style of art produced in the post-Roman history of the British Isles
  • insular cortex, a part of the cerebral cortex
  • Insular dwarfism, a form of phyletic dwarfism
  • Insular period (disambiguation), historical term
  • Insular script, a medieval script system originally used in Ireland
  • Insular Life, a mutual life insurance company in the Philippines

Usage examples of "insular".

The younger here of our ethereal band And hierarchy of Intelligences, That this thwart Parliament whose moods we watch-- So insular, empiric, un-ideal-- May figure forth in sharp and salient lines To retrospective eyes of afterdays, And print its legend large on History.

Scottish clearances, had iurned the fifty-mile area around the I I BC postat Fort Garry, near the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, into a relatively prosperous, if insular, community of about ten thousand souls.

On a freezing day in December, another child goes missing: thirteen-year-old Alison Carter vanishes from the isolated Derbyshire hamlet of Scardale, a self contained, insular community that distrusts the outside world.

Insular Government accounts are kept since Filipinization, it is almost impossible to get real figures on any subject.

Most gangs stake out their turf in the hundreds of small, insular Catholic parishes that make up the province.

I saw that under the mask of these half humorous innuendoes, this old seaman, as an insulated Quakerish Nantucketer, was full of his insular prejudices, and rather distrustful of all aliens, unless they hailed from Cape Cod or the Vineyard.

The bold seafaring men of Portugal sought to reach insular regions supposed to be cast far away into the ocean, whilst Columbus endeavoured to arrive at China and Japan.

Iberia has always been an insular place, Shintoistic, protective of its traditions, virtually incestuous in its familial relationships and attitudes toward outsiders.

Insular Auditor should be given trained and competent American assistants, free from political control, appointed by United States authority.

The Insular budget makes no provision whatever for the employment of special assistants to the Governor-General.

With insular directness he went straight to the point at the first interview, declared his love for Agatha, and proposed an exchange, which amused, but did not offend me, as I knew that such bargains were common in England.

A coup could be accomplished only by other Iraqi elites, so we would not have to worry about trying to get a foreign assassin into the insular Iraqi police state.

There was on his part an insular representation of old French court salute to the lady, and she replied to it in the exactest measure, as if an instructed proficient.

She knew that she was not dreaming and that she was really in the power of two huge gorillas who spoke English with a marked insular accent.

Unlike the worldly citizens of sophisticated metropolises such as Hamacassar or Lybondai, the peoples living on this side of the Semordria were of a far more insular nature.