Home British & World English isle

Definition of isle in English:

isle

noun

literary

  • An island or peninsula, especially a small one.

    ‘Crusoe's fabled isle’
    in place names ‘the British Isles’
    • ‘This house is set on the side of a low wooded hill overlooking Lough Gill and the lake isle of Innisfree.’
    • ‘There are the Bikini Islanders, a gentle people who consider the tiny isle their home.’
    • ‘As my thinking cap is keeping me positive, the emerald isle moves me.’
    • ‘Suffice to say some people on this fair isle have no sense of humour.’
    • ‘Land of beaches, hills and valleys, fairest isle of all the earth.’

Origin

Middle English ile, from Old French, from Latin insula. The spelling with s (also in 15th-century French) is influenced by Latin.

Pronunciation

isle

/ʌɪl/