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Synonyms

single file

American  

noun

  1. a line of persons or things arranged one behind the other; Indian file.

single file British  

noun

  1. a line of persons, animals, or things ranged one behind the other, either stationary or moving

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

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

Drone footage from the weekend showed long lines of men and boys standing or walking in single file.

From Salon • Oct. 30, 2024

Compared to cells moving in a single file, clusters were much slower.

From Science Daily • Jun. 19, 2024

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

We walked in silence, Rodney leading the way, through little backstreets hardly penetrated by the sun, the pavements so narrow we often had to shuffle along in single file.

From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

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.