singular

American  

[sing-gyuh-ler] / ˈsɪŋ gyə lər /

adjective

1. extraordinary; remarkable; exceptional.

   a singular success.

   Synonyms:

   peculiar

   Antonyms:

   usual

2. unusual or strange; odd; different.

   singular behavior.

   Synonyms:

   curious, queer, bizarre, peculiar

3. being the only one of its kind; distinctive; unique.

   a singular example.

   Synonyms:

   rare, uncommon, peculiar

4. separate; individual.

   Synonyms:

   single, peculiar

5. 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.

6. Logic.

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

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

7. Mathematics.

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

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

8. Obsolete. private.

9. Obsolete. single.

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noun

Grammar.

1. the singular number.

2. a form in the singular.

singular British  

/ ˈsɪŋɡjʊlə /

adjective

1. remarkable; exceptional; extraordinary

   a singular feat

2. unusual; odd

   a singular character

3. unique

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

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

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noun

1. grammar

   1. the singular number

   2. a singular form of a word

singular Cultural  

1. 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.)

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Other Word Forms

• singularly
  adverb
• singularness
  noun
• supersingular
  adjective
• unsingular
  adjective
• unsingularly
  adverb
• unsingularness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of singular

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

Explanation

If something is extraordinary, remarkable, or one of a kind, you can say it is singular. A singular opportunity to sing onstage with a rock star is a remarkable opportunity. Seeing the single inside singular can help you understand its meaning in the sense of one. In grammar, singular means one, as opposed to plural, which means more than one. But singular’s not always––or singularly––about being unique. Walking through a foggy cemetery might give you a singular feeling––or a feeling that’s odd and peculiar––that ghosts could possibly be real.

Example Sentences

"Musk is a singular individual," Lund said, "but negative things never seem to stick to either of them."

From BBC • May 18, 2026

In the haste to disrupt the obesity epidemic, weight loss has been treated as the singular, undisputed metric of success, which experts say is problematic.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 17, 2026

Authors Ron Currie and David Heska Wanbli Weiden both return to their singular protagonists with narratives that deepen their legends by immersing readers in overlooked communities.

From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026

Jefferies equities trading analyst Jeffrey Favuzza noted on Tuesday that the broader semiconductor sector was moving lower “without a clear singular datapoint” aside from “some buyer exhaustion following the recent moves.”

From MarketWatch • May 12, 2026

The American Dialect Society chooses the singular gender-neutral pronoun they as their Word of the Year.

From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater

Related Words

• bizarre
• exceptional
• extraordinary
• peculiar
• rare
• remarkable
• strange
• uncommon
• unimaginable
• unparalleled
• unprecedented
• unusual