singular

[ sing-gyuh-ler ]
See synonyms for: singularsingularlysingularness on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. extraordinary; remarkable; exceptional: a singular success.

  2. unusual or strange; odd; different: singular behavior.

  1. being the only one of its kind; distinctive; unique: a singular example.

  2. separate; individual.

  3. Grammar. noting or pertaining to a member of the category of number found in many languages that indicates that a word form has one referent or denotes one person, place, thing, or instance, as English boy and thing, which are singular nouns, or goes, a singular form of the verb go.: Compare dual (def. 4), plural (def. 4).

  4. Logic.

    • of or relating to something individual, specific, or not general.

    • (of a proposition) containing no quantifiers, as “Socrates was mortal.”

  5. Mathematics.

    • of or relating to a linear transformation from a vector space to itself that is not one-to-one.

    • of or relating to a matrix having a determinant equal to zero.

  6. Obsolete. private.

  7. Obsolete. single.

nounGrammar.
  1. the singular number.

  2. a form in the singular.

Origin of singular

1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English word from Latin word singulāris.See single, -ar1

Other words for singular

Opposites for singular

Other words from singular

  • sin·gu·lar·ly, adverb
  • sin·gu·lar·ness, noun
  • su·per·sin·gu·lar, adjective
  • un·sin·gu·lar, adjective
  • un·sin·gu·lar·ly, adverb
  • un·sin·gu·lar·ness, noun

Words that may be confused with singular

Words Nearby singular

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use singular in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for singular

singular

/ (ˈsɪŋɡjʊlə) /


adjective
  1. remarkable; exceptional; extraordinary: a singular feat

  2. unusual; odd: a singular character

  1. unique

  2. denoting a word or an inflected form of a word indicating that not more than one referent is being referred to or described

  3. logic of or referring to a specific thing or person as opposed to something general

noun
  1. grammar

    • the singular number

    • a singular form of a word

Origin of singular

1
C14: from Latin singulāris single

Derived forms of singular

  • singularly, adverb
  • singularness, noun

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

Cultural definitions for singular

singular

In nouns, pronouns, and verbs, the grammatical form that refers to only one thing. In the following sentence, the singular words are italicized: “The police officer stops anyone who crosses before the light changes.” (Compare plural; see agreement.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.