to enisle oneself
- phrasal verb
- Archaic
:
aislarse
- After moving to a new city, she was careful not to enisle herself from her old friends.
Examples
-
She warned him not to enisle himself from friends after the move.
-
Don't enisle yourself from your friends!
-
He sometimes enisles himself in his office when he needs to concentrate deeply.
-
It's tempting to enisle oneself during stressful times, but support is important.
-
She often enisles herself when feeling overwhelmed.
-
He sometimes enisles himself in his office when he needs to concentrate deeply.
-
It's tempting to enisle oneself during stressful times, but it's important to stay connected.
Synonyms
256
4.2
To keep someone or something apart from others
75
7.0
Keep away from someone or something to show no connection
27
5.4
To not tell others your thoughts or feelings
3
8.6
To shut someone or yourself away from the outside world
2
6.7
To keep somebody away from other people
1
6.2
To stay away from other people after being near someone with an illness to avoid spreading disease
To make someone or yourself live apart from other people, like on an island
To keep a person or thing alone in a quiet place away from other people
To cut off a place or person so they become isolated
Antonyms
How Isolated
- Informal
5
6.6
2
6.7
- Archaic
466
2.8
75
7.0
27
5.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'enisle' is defined as 'to separate someone or oneself from others' and the reflexive 'oneself' indicates the action is directed back at the subject, so the combined meaning 'to isolate oneself' is directly and compositionally derivable from the parts. The island imagery is a straightforward metaphor consistent with en- + noun verb formation and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Enisle oneself comes from the image of placing yourself on a small island. The part isle means 'island' and oneself shows you are alone, so the phrase means 'to isolate yourself on purpose'.