isle

1 of 2

noun

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

Examples of isle in a Sentence

Noun the Australian seas are rife with uninhabited isles
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
Ringed with coral reefs, the 300-acre private isle, managed by Oetker Collection, has two white-powder beaches and three sparkling pools. Laura Begley Bloom, AFAR Media, 25 Feb. 2025 After its creative and commercial success elevated auteur Mike White into the pantheon of prestige showrunners, Season 2 ventured further afield, both geographically (to Sicily) and away from its home base, with excursions across the Italian isle. Alison Herman, Variety, 11 Feb. 2025 The rugged Hebridean isle off the southwestern coast of Scotland, also known as Whisky Island, has 10 active distilleries spread over less than 300 square miles. Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 Dec. 2024 This fair isle sweater is made from a stretchy-soft knit and has a leash hole on the back to connect his harness. Ali Faccenda, People.com, 10 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for isle

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of isle was in the 13th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Isle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/isle. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.

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

More from Merriam-Webster on isle

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!