singular

[ sing-gyuh-ler ]

/ ˈsɪŋ gyə lər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR singular ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

extraordinary; remarkable; exceptional: a singular success.

unusual or strange; odd; different: singular behavior.

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

separate; individual.

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).

Logic.

of or relating to something individual, specific, or not general.
(of a proposition) containing no quantifiers, as “Socrates was mortal.”

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.

Obsolete. private.

Obsolete. single.

noun Grammar.

the singular number.

a form in the singular.

Nearby words

singletree, singlish, singly, singsong, singspiel, singular, singular point, singularity, singularize, singularly, singulary

Origin of singular

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

SYNONYMS FOR singular

1–4 peculiar.

2 bizarre, queer, curious.

3 uncommon, rare.

4 single.

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ANTONYMS FOR singular

1 usual.

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Related forms

sin·gu·lar·ly, adverbsin·gu·lar·ness, nounsu·per·sin·gu·lar, adjectiveun·sin·gu·lar, adjective

un·sin·gu·lar·ly, adverbun·sin·gu·lar·ness, noun

Can be confusedsingle singular

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for singularly

Today that singularly revered profession is actually many jobs rolled into one.
Renaissance Man Jared Leto Defies Categorization|The Daily Beast|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The first photos from the far side of the Moon are singularly unimpressive to modern eyes.
The USSR’s Race to the Moon’s Far Side|Matthew R. Francis|October 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This was set aside for the moment, now that a man with a knife had committed something so singularly horrific.
This Brooklyn 6-Year-Old’s Murderer Is Still on the Loose|Michael Daly|June 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
New York Times Book critic Eliot Fremont-Smith agreed in his review, calling Barbie, “singularly offensive.”
Happy Bday Barbie! You're Over|Brandy Zadrozny|March 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Professional sports has a singularly unheroic and uninspiring precedent for treating those with a medical problem.
Can NASCAR Driver Trevor Bayne Race Safely With Multiple Sclerosis?|Kent Sepkowitz|November 13, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Singularly, the men who most despise women are the ones who seek to have her applause.
The Lincoln Story Book|Henry L. Williams
Descending toward the left, we approach one of the most singularly beautiful groups of stalactites in this apartment.
Bancroft's Tourist's Guide Yosemite|A.L. Bancroft
Dr Pendle admitted again that Mab was a singularly charming young lady, and that his son might do worse than marry her.
The Bishop's Secret|Fergus Hume
He has a singularly pure and fine power of selecting and loving what is best in books.
Joyous Gard|Arthur Christopher Benson
How singularly present apologies for our slavery echo these voices from the Barbary States!
Charles Sumner; his complete works; Volume 2 (of 20)|Charles Sumner

British Dictionary definitions for singularly

singular

/ (ˈsɪŋɡjʊlə) /

adjective

remarkable; exceptional; extraordinarya singular feat

unusual; odda singular character

unique

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

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

noun

grammar

the singular number
a singular form of a word

Derived Formssingularly, adverbsingularness, noun

Word Origin for singular

C14: from Latin singulāris single

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

Word Origin and History for singularly (1 of 2)

singularly

adv.

late 14c., "exclusively, alone, solely; uniquely; individually; in an unusual way, especially," from singular + -ly (2).

Word Origin and History for singularly (1 of 2)

singular

adj.

mid-14c., "alone, apart; being a unit; special, unsurpassed," from Old French singuler "personal particular; distinctive; singular in number" (12c., Modern French singulier) or directly from Latin singularis "single, solitary, one by one, one at a time; peculiar, remarkable," from singulus (see single (adj.)). Meaning "remarkably good, unusual, rare, separated from others (by excellence), uncommon" is from c.1400 in English; this also was a common meaning of Latin singularis.

Culture definitions for singularly

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.)

singular

adjective

noun Grammar.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of singular

Examples from the Web for singularly

British Dictionary definitions for singularly

singular

adjective

noun

Word Origin for singular

Word Origin and History for singularly (1 of 2)

singularly

Word Origin and History for singularly (1 of 2)

singular

Culture definitions for singularly

singular