individually
Americanadverb
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one at a time; separately.
The delegates were introduced individually.
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personally.
Each of us is individually responsible.
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in an individual or personally unique manner.
Her interpretation was individually conceived.
Etymology
Origin of individually
First recorded in 1590–1600; individual + -ly
Explanation
Anything done individually happens one at a time, separate from others. In baseball, each player bats individually. An individual is a single person, or you can refer to an individual thing, which is one thing. Likewise, anything described as happening individually happens one by one or separately. An only child is raised individually. Doctors usually see patients individually, not in groups. If you're in a single-file line, you're lined up individually. Think of the number one when you see or hear the word individually.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The only problem with that is that while Cornell, Thayil and Yamamoto all individually took turns playing in the Shemps to make money, that version of the band never performed in public.
From Salon • Jun. 9, 2026
Normanly explained that the eggs "were collected very carefully, wrapped up individually and packaged into a biscuit tin" to be transported to the incubation facility.
From BBC • Jun. 5, 2026
Although scientists have studied many of these basins individually for years, this is the first time they have been recognized as parts of a single, interconnected geological structure.
From Science Daily • Jun. 4, 2026
When he found out that Starlink satellites were being released individually, for example, Musk wondered why they couldn’t be released at once.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Rabi stitched together the new lab’s sponsoring consortium, known as Associated Universities, from nine large Eastern research institutions that would have been hard pressed to compete individually in the multimillion-dollar world of postwar high-energy physics.*
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
