isle

1 of 2

noun

ˈī(-ə)l 

plural isles

: island

Pacific isles

Steering with due course toward the isle of Rhodes …

—William Shakespeare

especially : a small island : islet

I once lived on the … island of Antiparos, a tiny isle behind Paros.

—Emily Prager

Islay is a small Hebridean isle, some 25 miles in length, with a population of less than 4,000, yet it boasts eight of the oldest and most famous distilleries in Scotland.

—Henry Shukman

isle

2 of 2

verb

isled; isling

transitive verb

1

: to make an isle of

2

: to place on or as if on an isle

Synonyms

Noun

• island

Examples of isle in a Sentence

Noun

the Australian seas are rife with uninhabited isles

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

There is also The Real Housewives of Jersey, as in the isle of Jersey not the state of New Jersey. —Brian Moylan, Vulture, 23 July 2025

The President has family links to Scotland, as his mother Mary Anne MacLeod was born and raised on the Scottish isle of Lewis. —Callum Sutherland, Time, 21 July 2025

On the rugged isle of Berk, where Vikings and dragons have been bitter enemies for generations, Hiccup (Mason Thames; The Black Phone, For All Mankind) stands apart. —Billie Melissa, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 July 2025

But even the tidiest isles can succumb to storms, natural or otherwise. —Leo Barraclough, Variety, 9 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French ile, isle, from Latin insula

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

circa 1576, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for isle

• aisle
• bile
• chyle
• file
• guile
• heil
• kyle
• mile
• pile
• rile
• smile
• stile

Kids Definition

isle

noun

ˈī(ə)l

: island sense 1

especially : islet

Etymology

Noun

from early French isle "isle, island," from Latin insula "island" — related to insulate, isolate, peninsula