island

noun, often attributive is·land \ ˈī-lənd \

|Updated on: 15 Aug 2018

Examples: island in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of island

1 : a tract of land surrounded by water and smaller than a continent

2 : something resembling an island especially in its isolated or surrounded position: such as

a : a usually raised area within a thoroughfare, parking lot, or driveway used especially to separate or direct traffic

b : a superstructure on the deck of a ship (such as an aircraft carrier)

c : a kitchen counter that is approachable from all sides

3 : an isolated group or area; especially : an isolated ethnological group

See island defined for English-language learners

See island defined for kids

Examples of island in a Sentence

He lives on an island in the Caribbean.
the island of Hawaii is the largest in the Hawaiian archipelago

Recent Examples of island from the Web

To Britons, this will smack of direct interference in their internal affairs — something this proud island nation is loath to tolerate.

— Washington Post, "AP Analysis: Trump’s barbed comments upset British hosts," 13 July 2018
Iceland: Enquirer journalists Alexander Coolidge and Liz Dufour take us on a tour of the island nation.

— hannah sparling, Cincinnati.com, "Allegiant Air pilots threaten to strike," 10 July 2018
But as violent protests over sharply rising fuel prices shook the island nation, a dozen members of North Albemarle Baptist Church still took refuge Monday in an orphanage outside the capital city.

— bruce henderson, charlotteobserver, "Haiti 'just completely blew up,' NC pastor says of stranded mission team," 9 July 2018
Haiti's government has suspended a fuel price hike that sparked two days of civil unrest and the cancellations of international flights by U.S. carriers to the island-nation.

— jacqueline charles, miamiherald, "Haiti has put a fuel hike on hold. But is it enough to save the prime minister's job?," 7 July 2018
Production problems included getting around on the underdeveloped roads of the mountainous Caribbean island nation of Dominica.

— charles stockdale and john harrington, USA TODAY, "From 'Transformers' to 'Avatar,' these are the 50 most expensive movies ever made," 6 July 2018
In the Asian island nation of 23 million people, elementary students read about Katherine’s childhood charity campaign while parents seeking to raise exceptional children learn her story from a viral YouTube video.

— kathy boccella, Philly.com, "Downingtown girl who raised millions for malaria nets treated as hero in Taiwan," 30 June 2018
The island nation of New Zealand, which is also seeing many of its iconic native species threatened by nonnative predators, has launched an even more ambitious project called Predator Free New Zealand.

— jason daley, Smithsonian, "Australian Feral Cats Eat More Than a Million Reptiles Per Day," 26 June 2018
Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir says her island nation about 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) off Norway's coast is the perfect pick for their passion.

— ronald blum, chicagotribune.com, "Mexico, Iceland, England compete for Americans' support in World Cup," 23 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'island.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

The words island and isle are etymologically distinct. Island can be traced back to Old English īgland, composed of two elements īg and land. Land, as we might expect means “land,” but īg means “island” in Old English. In a sense, then, īgland is “island-land.” The English isle, on the other hand, is derived through medieval French from the Latin insula. In the 16th century, under the influence of isle, the letter s was added to iland, the earlier form of island. The verb island did not appear until the 17th century.

Origin and Etymology of island

alteration (influenced by Anglo-French isle) of earlier iland, from Middle English, from Old English īgland (akin to Old Norse eyland), from īg island (akin to Old English ēa river, Latin aqua water) + land land

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

island Synonyms

Synonyms

isle, islet;

Near Antonyms

continent, main, mainland;

Other Geology Terms

anthracite, boulder, cwm, erratic, igneous, intrusive, mesa, sedimentary, silt, swale

island

verb

Definition of island

islanded; islanding; islands

transitive verb

1 a : to make into or as if into an island

b : to dot with or as if with islands

2 : isolate

Recent Examples of island from the Web

The 21 percent that nest on the Kerguelen Islands in the Indian Ocean and the Falkland and Tierra del Fuego islands close to South America would find their nesting grounds altered and would have to travel farther to find food and so might relocate.

— karen weintraub, New York Times, "King Penguins Are Endangered by Warmer Seas," 26 Feb. 2018
In the offshore world, wealthy people and corporations use the banking systems of low-tax countries, often island nations in the Caribbean, to shield their assets from taxing authorities in their home countries.

— david heinzmann, chicagotribune.com, "Tribune exclusive: Pritzker's secret offshore holdings revealed in Chicago duck boat land deal," 14 Mar. 2018
Critics have said the exemption allowed UBS Group AG to sell funds to island residents that later suffered big losses, wiping out many clients’ life savings.

— ryan tracy, WSJ, "Lawmakers Expand Scope of Senate Bank-Deregulation Bill," 7 Mar. 2018
To find out why, researchers set out cameras to record clownfish behaviors near North Solitary and Lord Howe islands along Australia’s east coast.

— jennifer leman, Science | AAAS, "Why some clownfish are boring," 14 Dec. 2017
Authorities were letting residents and business owners to return to Upper Keys islands close to the mainland Tuesday morning, but people from the Lower Keys faced a longer wait.

— jennifer kay and doug ferguson, chicagotribune.com, "Florida makes slow moves toward recovery after Hurricane Irma," 12 Sep. 2017
Dr Toomey’s findings stem from his analysis of sediment cores collected near the Dry Tortugas, islands off Florida’s coast.

— The Economist, "PalaeoclimatologyTraces of old hurricanes show how hard climate science is," 19 Oct. 2017
The island was largely spared the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Irma on the chain's St. Thomas and St. John islands just two weeks ago.

— carlisle jno baptiste and danica coto, chicagotribune.com, "Hurricane Maria aims at Puerto Rico after slamming Dominica," 19 Sep. 2017
Next in the storm's path was St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which was largely spared the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Irma on the chain's St. Thomas and St. John islands just two weeks ago.

— Bloomberg.com, "Hurricane Maria Slams Dominica, Now Takes Aim At Puerto Rico," 19 Sep. 2017