singular
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.
the singular number.
a form in the singular.
Origin of singular
1Other 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
- single, singular
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use singular in a sentence
Eloquence would be but a poor thing if we should only converse with singulars, speak but man and man together.
Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter | Ben JonsonThe plural forms may be dealt out to the class, while one child reads aloud the singulars, one after the other.
Montessori Elementary Materials | Maria MontessoriThe plurals are used politely for the singulars, and new forms are made from these old plurals, to make new plurals.
As in other languages of the Eastern Group, the singulars of the personal pronouns have fallen into disuse.
All knowledge, therefore, begins with singulars--that is, with individual objects.
Christianity and Greek Philosophy | Benjamin Franklin Cocker
British Dictionary definitions for singular
/ (ˈsɪŋɡjʊlə) /
remarkable; exceptional; extraordinary: a singular feat
unusual; odd: a 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
grammar
the singular number
a singular form of a word
Origin of singular
1Derived 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
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.
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