island
A contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, totally surrounded by water.
Other meanings
A contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, partially surrounded by water; a peninsula; a half-island.
“Despite its name, Barry Island is actually a peninsula”
An entity surrounded by other entities that are very different from itself.
“The quiet library was an island of tranquility in the noisy, bustling city.”
A kind of
- dry land
Kinds of island
- barrier island
Example sentences
Word history
From Old English "īeġland".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “island” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.