1763, from French isolé "isolated" (17c.) + English -ated (see -ate (2)). The French word is from Italian isolato, from Latin insulatus "made into an island," from insula "island." The French word was used at first in English (isole, also isole'd, c.1750), then after isolate became an English word, isolated became its past participle.
by 1786, a new formation from isolated (q.v.).
The translation of this work is well performed, excepting that fault from which few translations are wholly exempt, and which is daily tending to corrupt our language, the adoption of French expressions. We have here evasion for escape, twice or more times repeated; brigands very frequently; we have the unnecessary and foolish word isolate; and, if we mistake not, paralize, which at least has crept in through a similar channel. Translators cannot be too careful on this point, as it is a temptation to which they are constantly exposed. ["The British Critic," April 1799]As a noun from 1890, from earlier adjectival use (1819).
isolate i·so·late (ī'sə-lāt')
v. i·so·lat·ed, i·so·lat·ing, i·so·lates
To set apart or cut off from others.
To place in quarantine.
To separate a pure strain from a mixed bacterial or fungal culture.
To separate or remove a chemical substance out of a combined mixture.
To separate experiences or memories from the emotions relating to them.