[syn: insulating material, insulant, insulation]
3. the act of protecting something by surrounding it with material that reduces or prevents the transmission of sound or heat or electricity;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Insulation \In`su*la"tion\, n.
1. The act of insulating, or the state of being insulated;
detachment from other objects; isolation.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Elec. & Thermotics) The act of separating a body from
others by nonconductors, so as to prevent the transfer of
electricity or of heat; also, the state of a body so
separated.
[1913 Webster]
3. The material or substance used to insulate from either
electrical or thermal conduction; as, fiberglass is used
as thermal insulation in the walls and roofs of houses.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
insulation
n 1: the state of being isolated or detached; "the insulation of
England was preserved by the English Channel" [syn:
insulation, insularity, insularism, detachment]
2: a material that reduces or prevents the transmission of heat
or sound or electricity [syn: insulating material,
insulant, insulation]
3: the act of protecting something by surrounding it with
material that reduces or prevents the transmission of sound
or heat or electricity
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
86 Moby Thesaurus words for "insulation":
Jim Crow, aegis, alien, apartheid, buffer, bulwark, bumper,
color bar, contraceptive, copyright, crash helmet, cushion,
dashboard, division, dodger, ethnocentrism, exclusiveness,
face mask, fender, finger guard, foot guard, foreigner, fuse,
goggles, governor, guard, guardrail, hand guard, handrail,
hard hat, helmet, insularity, interlock, isolation, knee guard,
know-nothingism, knuckle guard, laminated glass, life preserver,
lifeline, lightning conductor, lightning rod, mask, mudguard,
narrowness, nose guard, out-group, outcast, outsider, pad, padding,
palladium, parochialism, patent, persona non grata, pilot,
preventive, prophylactic, protective clothing, protective umbrella,
quarantine, race hatred, racial segregation, safeguard, safety,
safety glass, safety plug, safety rail, safety shoes,
safety switch, safety valve, screen, seat belt, seclusion,
segregation, separation, shield, shin guard, snobbishness,
stranger, sun helmet, tightness, umbrella, windscreen, windshield,
xenophobia