standalone

American  

[stand-uh-lohn] / ˈstænd əˌloʊn /

Or stand-alone

adjective

1. complete unto itself; not being or understood as part of a set, system, or series; self-contained: The studio doubted that this story would find an audience as a stand-alone film.

   Our aerospace degree plan is a standalone program, and not a division of the mechanical engineering department.

   The studio doubted that this story would find an audience as a stand-alone film.

2. Computers. able to operate without other hardware or software.

   There are several standalone apps you can use to add live captioning to your videos.

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noun

1. a single work that may be understood and appreciated without knowledge of other episodes, books, issues, etc..

   The author has taken a break from the series to put out two standalones just in time for the holidays.

2. Computers. a device or program that does not need other hardware or software to fully function.

   A decent VR rig for your PC won’t be any cheaper than a standalone.

Etymology

Origin of standalone

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

standalone

“Many studios are now building a lot of gaming content as well, so allowing them to extend their own standalone game into ‘Fortnite,’ into the theme park, into the theater is really powerful.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

The analyst suggests that this implies that the current AI roadmap has yet to demonstrate standalone economics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Meta has its own standalone chatbot, Meta AI, similar to popular ChatGPT or Claude.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Spider-Man: Brand New Day marks Tom Holland's fourth standalone adventure as the protagonist and hero Peter Parker.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

IOI’s intranet was a high-security, standalone network with no direct connections to the OASIS.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline