insulation

UK/ˌɪnsjʊˈleɪʃən/US/ˌɪnsəˈleɪʃən/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,318 of 15,258leans written

Insulation is the material in walls and roofs that keeps warmth in and noise out. Fluffy, thick, and usually unseen.

Loft insulation and cavity wall insulation are the standard domestic kinds, and they save more money than almost any other home improvement. Electrical insulation is the plastic round a wire that stops the current escaping. Both work by stopping something passing, which is what the word means. The verb is insulate, and it has a figurative use, since being insulated from a problem means being protected from feeling it.

Definitions of insulation

1nouninsulationMaterial used to prevent heat, sound or electricity passing through.B2+
“They put extra insulation in the loft.”

Where it comes from

Ancient Greek
εἶμι
English
ion
English, today
insulation

Built from

εἶμι · Ancient Greek — I go

From insulate + -ion. ion comes from Ancient Greek εἶμι. From the ending of anion and cation, which in turn is from Ancient Greek ἰόν (“going”), neuter present participle of εἶμι (“I go”). coined by William Whewell in 1834 for Michael Faraday, who introduced it later that year.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Around the House, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 38 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

insulation in the wild

Thermal insulation can be achieved with specially engineered methods or processes, as well as with suitable object shapes and materials.
Thermal insulation
Styrofoam is, however, a denser material than EPS and is more commonly suited to tasks such as thermal insulation.
Styrofoam
The process traps many small pockets of air between the glass, and these small air pockets result in high thermal insulation properties.
Glass wool
Building insulation is material used in a building (specifically the building envelope) to reduce the flow of thermal energy.
Building insulation
Often an insulation material will be chosen for its ability to perform several of these functions at once.
Building insulation

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

insulation batt

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