Insulator

//ˈɪn.s(j)ə.leɪ.tə(ɹ)// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A substance that does not transmit heat (thermal insulator), sound (acoustic insulator) or electricity (electrical insulator).
  2. 2
    a material such as glass or porcelain with negligible electrical or thermal conductivity wordnet
  3. 3
    A non-conductive structure, coating or device that does not transmit sound, heat or electricity (see image)

    "To isolate electrical wires from the pylons supporting them, one often uses glass insulators."

  4. 4
    A person who installs insulation.

    "Alan Vasen worked as an insulator at this site from September 1968 through mid-April 1969. Mr. Vasen installed thousands of lineal feet of asbestos pipe covering and thousands of square feet of asbestos block insulation throughout the operating units of the Benicia refinery."

Synonyms

All synonyms
conductanceconductionconductordevicedielectricdiode

Example

More examples

"Space is actually a good insulator because it is difficult to transfer heat to nothing."

Etymology

From insulate + -or.

Related phrases

mica insulatorstrain insulatortopological insulator

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.