unity

American  

[yoo-ni-tee] / ˈju nɪ ti /

noun

• unities
  plural

1. the state of being one; oneness.

   Synonyms:

   individuality, singularity, singleness

   Antonyms:

   variety, diversity

2. a whole or totality as combining all its parts into one.

3. the state or fact of being united or combined into one, as of the parts of a whole; unification.

4. absence of diversity; unvaried or uniform character.

5. oneness of mind, feeling, etc., as among a number of persons; concord, harmony, or agreement.

   Synonyms:

   unison, concert

6. Mathematics.

   1. the number one; a quantity regarded as one.

   2. identity.

7. (in literature and art) a relation of all the parts or elements of a work constituting a harmonious whole and producing a single general effect.

8. one of the three principles of dramatic structure the three unities derived from Aristotelian aesthetics and formalized in the neoclassic canon in which a play is required to represent action as taking place in one day unity of time, as occurring within one place unity of place, and as having a single plot with a beginning, middle, and end unity of action.

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unity British  

/ ˈjuːnɪtɪ /

noun

1. the state or quality of being one; oneness

2. the act, state, or quality of forming a whole from separate parts

3. something whole or complete that is composed of separate parts

4. mutual agreement; harmony or concord

   the participants were no longer in unity

5. uniformity or constancy

   unity of purpose

6. maths

   1. the number or numeral one

   2. a quantity assuming the value of one

      the area of the triangle was regarded as unity

   3. the element of a set producing no change in a number following multiplication

7. the arrangement of the elements in a work of art in accordance with a single overall design or purpose

8. any one of the three principles of dramatic structure deriving from Aristotle's Poetics by which the action of a play should be limited to a single plot (unity of action), a single location (unity of place), and the events of a single day (unity of time)

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Synonym Usage

See union.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonunity
  noun
• self-unity
  noun
• superunity
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• unities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of unity

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English unite, from Old French, from Latin ūnitās, from ūn(us) one + -itās -ity

Explanation

Unity is being together or at one with someone or something. It's the opposite of being divided. This is a word for togetherness or oneness. When the north won the Civil War, it assured the unity of the United States. Sports teams wear uniforms to show unity, and their fans wear team colors for the same reason. When a bunch of people act as one and are on the same page, they're displaying unity. When people are bickering and disorganized, there's no unity. In any group or cause, unity can be hard to find and maintain.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

unity unities

Spain introduced new border checks on arrivals from Italy on Saturday, as a dispute between the two countries over migration policy escalated into a tit-for-tat that is testing the unity of the European Union.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

However, they may also encourage social divisions and weaken unity within culturally diverse teams.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

Lekjaa last Saturday had praised his "wise" move to scrap the plan in the interests of "unity and cohesion".

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

Concacaf president Victor Montagliani is seen as the most likely unity candidate to stand against Infantino.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

In February, the ANC and the government announced an agreement in principle on the five-year government of national unity, a multiparty cabinet, and the creation of a transitional executive council.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Not the least of those unities were political and historical ones.

From New York Times ● Jul. 10, 2020

They said, "Don’t worry about the facts, don’t worry about logic, think instead in terms of mystical unities and direct connections between the mystical leader and the people."

From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2018

Like so many Golden Age mysteries, the original novel is essentially a closet drama, one that closely observes the theatrical unities of place, time and action.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 8, 2017

British critics in the nineteenth century followed suit, celebrating Shakespeare’s capacious characters and poetic imagination instead of worrying whether his plots fit Aristotelian unities or if his style matched Augustan decorum.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 6, 2015

That utterance was the real declaration of real war and in accordance with the dramatic unities of mighty events, the great soldier who made it, received the final sword of the rebellion.

From Ingersollia Gems of Thought from the Lectures, Speeches, and Conversations of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, Representative of His Opinions and Beliefs by Robert Green Ingersoll

Related Words

• agreement
• consensus
• harmony
• identity
• integrity
• peace
• solidarity
• unanimity
• unification