insulation

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English insulate

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *-Hō

Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō

Proto-Italic *-tiō

Latin -tiō

Latin -ātiōlbor.

Old French -ationbor.

Middle English -acioun

English -ation

English -ion

English insulation

From insulate + -ion.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɪnsjʊˈleɪʃən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɪnsəˈleɪʃən/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

insulation (countable and uncountable, plural insulations)

1. The act of insulating; detachment from other objects; isolation.
   • 2013 March, Nancy Langston, “Mining the Boreal North”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 13 April 2016, page 98:

     Reindeer are well suited to the taiga’s frigid winters. They can maintain a thermogradient between body core and the environment of up to 100 degrees, in part because of insulation provided by their fur, and in part because of counter-current vascular heat exchange systems in their legs and nasal passages.

2. The state of being insulated; detachment from other objects; isolation.
3. Any of a variety of materials designed to reduce the flow of heat, either from or into a building.
4. (engineering) The act of separating a body from others by nonconductors, so as to prevent the transfer of electricity, heat, or sound
5. (engineering) The state of a body so separated.
6. (electricity) a medium in which it is possible to maintain an electrical field with little supply of energy from additional sources.

Derived terms

• basic insulation level
• blanket insulation
• cellular glass insulation
• composite board insulation
• glass fiber insulation
• insulationism
• insulationist
• microinsulation
• noninsulation
• superinsulation
• thermoinsulation

Related terms

• insular
• insulate
• insulator
• isolate
• isolation
• peninsula

Translations

The act of insulating

• Armenian: մեկուսացում (hy) (mekusacʻum), առանձնացում (hy) (aṙanjnacʻum)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 孤立 (zh) (gūlì)

• Esperanto: izolado
• Finnish: eristys (fi), eristäminen (fi)
• French: isolation (fr) f
• German: Isolation (de) f
• Greek: μόνωση (el) f (mónosi)
• Italian: isolamento (it) m, coibentazione (it) f
• Macedonian: изолирање n (izoliranje), изолација f (izolacija)
• Portuguese: insulação f, isolamento (pt) m
• Romanian: izolare (ro) f
• Russian: изоли́рование (ru) n (izolírovanije), изоля́ция (ru) f (izoljácija)
• Spanish: aislamiento (es) m, aislación (es) f (rare), insulación f
• Swedish: isolering (sv) c
• Tagalog: sabukod

The state of being insulated

• Finnish: eristyneisyys, eristäytyneisyys
• French: isolement (fr) m
• Italian: isolamento (it) m, coibentamento m

Any of a variety of materials designed to reduce the flow of heat, either from or into a building

• Finnish: eriste (fi)
• French: isolant (fr) m
• Indonesian: isolator (id)
• Italian: isolante termico (it) m

The act of separating a body from others

• Armenian: մեկուսացում (hy) (mekusacʻum)
• Finnish: eristys (fi), eristäminen (fi)
• German: Dämmung (de) f, Isolierung (de) f
• Greek: μόνωση (el) f (mónosi)
• Macedonian: изолирање n (izoliranje), изолација f (izolacija)
• Polish: izolacja (pl) f
• Romanian: separare (ro) f, izolare (ro) f
• Russian: изоли́рование (ru) n (izolírovanije), изоля́ция (ru) f (izoljácija)
• Swedish: isolering (sv) c

a medium in which it is possible to maintain an electrical field with little supply of energy from additional sources

• Finnish: eriste (fi)
• Greek: μόνωση (el) f (mónosi)
• Indonesian: isolator (id)
• Kazakh: оқшаулама (oqşaulama)
• Macedonian: изолација f (izolacija), изола́тор m (izolátor)
• Romanian: izolație (ro) f
• Russian: изоля́ция (ru) f (izoljácija), изоля́тор (ru) m (izoljátor)
• Swedish: isolering (sv), isolator (sv) c