single file
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of single file
First recorded in 1660–70
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.
"In the end, everything worked out. Everyone went down in a single file, everyone helping, and we managed to finish the trail, see the sunrise, and experience that adrenaline rush," Nobre told the paper.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
They walked in single file, many of them barefoot, carrying flowers, handing out bracelets and picking up new followers along the way.
From Salon • Feb. 13, 2026
When the race began at 4, two hours before sunrise, we scurried off into the woods in tight single file.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025
So, when exhausted and inexperienced climbers inevitably struggle there, everybody else waits in a single file, hanging onto a fixed rope, while the bottled oxygen they need to survive at that altitude slowly drains away.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2024
The path is narrower here, so we go single file.
From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko
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.
