Island Noun - Definition, Pictures, Pronunciation And Usage Notes

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Definition of island noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

island noun   /ˈaɪlənd/  /ˈaɪlənd/ jump to other results

1. enlarge image  (abbreviation I, I., Is.) a piece of land that is completely surrounded by water
   • a small/tiny island
   • a remote island off the coast of Scotland
   • the islands in the Baltic Sea
   • the Virgin Islands
   • island of… the resort island of Bali
   • on an island We spent a week on the Greek island of Kos.
   • an island nation/state
   • (figurative) island of something No place on the planet can remain an island of affluence in a sea of suffering.
   see also desert islandExtra Examples
   • He owns a house on the island.
   • The best beaches are on the southern tip of the island.
   • They were forced to leave their island home and start a new life on the mainland.
   • Fiji is a small South Pacific island nation.
   • a ferry service to the outlying islands
   • a group of tropical islands
   • the island chain of the Bahamas
   • the island paradise of Phuket
   • Cuba is an island nation located on the northern rim of the Caribbean Sea.
   Topics Geographya1Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
   • outlying
   • remote
   • coral
   • …
   … of islands
   • chain
   • group
   island + noun
   • chain
   • group
   • home
   • …
   preposition
   • on an/​the island
   phrases
   • the… coast, side, tip, etc. of an island
   See full entry

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2. (also refuge (British English), traffic island British and North American English) an area in the middle of a road where you can stand and wait for cars to go past until it is safe for you to cross see also safety island
3. a kitchen unit with a worktop (= a flat surface for preparing food on), placed in the middle of the room with access from all sides
   • Their kitchen is huge, with an island and space for a small dining area.
   Topics Houses and homesc2
Word OriginOld English īegland, from īeg ‘island’ (from a base meaning ‘watery, watered’) + land. The change in the spelling of the first syllable in the 16th cent. was due to association with the unrelated word isle.

See island in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee island in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic EnglishCheck pronunciation: island

Other results

All matches

• island
• Holy Island
• Long Island
• Coney Island
• desert island noun
• Ellis Island noun
• Rhode Island
• safety island noun
• Staten Island
• island-hopping noun
• traffic island noun
• Treasure Island
• Three Mile Island
• Desert Island Discs
• Prince Edward Island
• Thousand Island dressing noun
• safety island
• Manhattan Island

See more

Nearby words

• Islamophobia noun
• Islamophobic adjective
• island noun
• islander noun
• island-hopping noun

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