individual

American  

[in-duh-vij-oo-uhl] / ˌɪn dəˈvɪdʒ u əl /

noun

• individuals
  plural

1. a single human being, as distinguished from a group.

2. a person.

   A strange individual came around asking if we wanted to buy any lamps.

3. a distinct, indivisible entity; a single thing, being, instance, or item.

4. a group considered as a unit.

5. Biology.

   1. a single organism capable of independent existence.

   2. a member of a compound organism or colony.

6. Cards. a duplicate-bridge tournament in which each player plays the same number of hands in partnership with every other player, individual scores for each player being kept for each hand.

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adjective

1. single; particular; separate.

   It's standard practice to number individual copies of a limited edition.

2. intended for the use of one person only.

   Servers handed out individual portions of a pizza to guests at the party.

3. of, relating to, or characteristic of a particular person or thing.

   The decor was highly reflective of his individual tastes.

4. distinguished by special, singular, or markedly personal characteristics; exhibiting unique or unusual qualities.

   She was known for her highly individual style of painting.

5. existing as a distinct, indivisible entity, or considered as such; discrete.

   It can be difficult to replace individual parts of a tea set if one breaks.

6. belonging to a set or group of which each is different or of a different design from the others.

   For Christmas they got a set of individual coffee cups.

individual British  

/ ˌɪndɪˈvɪdjʊəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, characteristic of, or meant for a single person or thing

2. separate or distinct, esp from others of its kind; particular

   please mark the individual pages

3. characterized by unusual and striking qualities; distinctive

4. obsolete indivisible; inseparable

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noun

1. a single person, esp when regarded as distinct from others

2. biology

   1. a single animal or plant, esp as distinct from a species

   2. a single member of a compound organism or colony

3. logic

   1. Also called: particular.  an object as opposed to a property or class

   2. an element of the domain of discourse of a theory

Usage

As a synonym for person, individual is standard, occurring in all varieties of speech and writing: Three individuals entered the room, each carrying a sheaf of papers. Some object to this use, insisting that individual can mean only “a single human being, as distinguished from a group”: An individual may have concerns that are ignored by their party.

Synonym Usage

See person.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• interindividual
  adjective
• nonindividual
  adjective
• superindividual
  adjective
• transindividual
  adjective
• individually
  adverb
• superindividually
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• individuals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of individual

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin indīviduālis, equivalent to Latin indīviduus “indivisible” (from in- negative prefix + dīviduus “divided or divisible into two parts”) + -ālis adjective suffix; cf. in- ³, divide, -al ¹

Explanation

The word individual is all about being a single entity that cannot be divided. It can mean person or even personal. A team is made up of individuals, and each individual has individual strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes individual is a way of referring to a person, quasi-formally. You might elevate the phrase "This guy walks into my shop," by saying, "This individual walks into my shop." You might also hear this word when talking about things that are divided: foods designed for lunchboxes, such as potato chips or juice boxes, are often prepackaged into individual servings.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

individual individuals

The research team examined the blood for metabolic patterns associated with lifespan, focusing specifically on whether individual dogs died earlier or later.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 29, 2026

The S&P 500 may at times seem relatively calm on the surface despite some violent moves in individual stock prices.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026

Apple One’s individual plan, which includes access to Apple Music, Apple Arcade, cloud storage and other features, is going up $2 to $21.95 per month.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026

"The Ballon d'Or is as big as it gets, from an individual point of view," he said.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Mother and Father crisscrossed the floorboards, wiggled the front door latch, listened to the individual creak of each stair.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Many creditors pushed for these changes because they felt some individuals were abusing the system.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026

Meanwhile, the 9/11 families had started their attempts to pursue him through the courts, adding him as a defendant to their $1tn suit against various individuals, companies and governments for allegedly supporting al-Qaeda.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

Then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the White House was unaware of Perez’s bets and that the president was furious over the idea of individuals in his administration trading on inside information.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

Researchers are using species recently approved for human consumption as models and comparing the genomes of farmed insects with those of pre-domestication individuals preserved in entomological collections.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

He didn’t see individuals, with their own emotions and thoughts.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

Related Words

• lone
• original
• particular
• personal
• respective
• separate
• single
• singular
• sole
• special
• specific