single
singles; singled; singling
If something is totally alone, or consists of only one part, it's single, like a single sock in your clean laundry basket that's mysteriously lost its mate.
Maybe there's a single house on a street, or a single red rose in a bouquet. People can be single too, if they aren't attached romantically to another person: "She had a terrible boyfriend, but now she's single." Single can also mean "distinct," or separate from everything else, like when you read every single word of a book to prepare for a test at school. And if you "single someone out," you place the focus on that one person.
Definitions of single
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existing alone or consisting of one entity or part or aspect or individual“upon the hill stood a single tower”“had but a single thought which was to escape”“a single survivor”“a single serving”“a single lens”“a single thickness”
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Synonyms:
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azygos, azygous
occurring singly; not one of a pair
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one-man, one-person, one-woman
designed for or restricted to a single person
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lone, lonesome, only, sole, solitary
being the only one; single and isolated from others
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singular, unique
the single one of its kind
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sui generis
constituting a class of its own; unique
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unary
consisting of or involving a single element or component
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one-member, uninominal
based on the system of having only one member from each district (as of a legislature)
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Antonyms:
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multiple
having or involving or consisting of more than one part or entity or individual
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aggregate
composed of a dense cluster of separate units such as carpels or florets or drupelets
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bigeminal
occurring in pairs
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binary
consisting of two (units or components or elements or terms)
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double, doubled, two-fold, twofold
twice as great or many
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double, dual, duple
consisting of or involving two parts or components usually in pairs
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double, dual, three-fold, threefold, treble, two-fold, twofold
having more than one decidedly dissimilar aspects or qualities
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duplex
(used technically of a device or process) having two parts
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manifold, multiplex
many and varied; having many features or forms
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ternary, treble, triple, triplex
having three units or components or elements
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three-fold, threefold, treble, triple
three times as great or many
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triune
being three in one; used especially of the Christian Trinity
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four-fold, fourfold, quadruple
four times as great or many
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four-fold, fourfold, quadruple, quadruplex, quadruplicate
having four units or components
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quaternary, quaternate
consisting of or especially arranged in sets of four
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five-fold, fivefold, quintuple
having five units or components
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sextuple, six-fold, sixfold
having six units or components
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septuple, seven-fold, sevenfold
having seven units or components
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eight-fold, eightfold, octuple
having eight units or components
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nine-fold, ninefold, nonuple
having nine units or components
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denary, ten-fold, tenfold
containing ten or ten parts
- show more antonyms...
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azygos, azygous
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being or characteristic of a single thing or person
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synonyms:
individual
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idiosyncratic
peculiar to the individual
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individualist, individualistic
marked by or expressing individuality
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man-to-man, one-on-one
being a system of play in which an individual defensive player guards an individual offensive player
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respective, several, various
considered individually
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singular
being a single and separate person or thing
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separate
independent; not united or joint
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Antonyms:
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common
belonging to or participated in by a community as a whole; public
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communal
for or by a group rather than individuals
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public
affecting the people or community as a whole
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joint
united or combined
- show more antonyms...
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idiosyncratic
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characteristic of or meant for a single person or thing
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having uniform application
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not divided among or brought to bear on more than one object or objective“judging a contest with a single eye”“a single devotion to duty”
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concentrated
gathered together or made less diffuse
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concentrated
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used of flowers having usually only one row or whorl of petals“single chrysanthemums resemble daisies and may have more than one row of petals”
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Antonyms:
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double
used of flowers having more than the usual number of petals in crowded or overlapping arrangements
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double
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not married or related to the unmarried state
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the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number
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a base hit on which the batter stops safely at first base
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synonyms:
bingle
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types:
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line single, line-drive single
a single resulting from a line drive
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line single, line-drive single
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hit a single“the batter singled to left field”
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type of:
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hit
cause to move by striking
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hit
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘single'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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