singular

[sing-gyuh-ler] /ˈsɪŋ gyə lər/

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

Mathematics.

of or pertaining to a linear transformation from a vector space to itself that is not one-to-one.
of or pertaining to a matrix having a determinant equal to zero.

Obsolete, private.

Obsolete, single.

noun, Grammar

10.

the singular number.

11.

a form in the singular.

Origin

1300-50; Middle English < Latin singulāris. See single, -ar¹

Related forms

singularly, adverb

singularness, noun

supersingular, adjective

unsingular, adjective

unsingularly, adverb

unsingularness, noun

Can be confused

single, singular.

Synonyms

1–4. peculiar. 2. bizarre, queer, curious. 3. uncommon, rare. 4. single.

Antonyms

1. usual.

Examples from the web for singular

While odd sounding, this is actually closer to their original state of having more ordinary singular locations.
singular had once the strong meaning that unique has still in accurate but not in other writers.
Colloquial use is clearly moving toward the singular construction, though, however illogical it may be.
The sources of hatred and violence are many, not singular.
It's the plural and clangs discordantly against the singular verb.
Their faces tell stories of faith amid adversity, urban hustle and optimism, and a singular flair for fashion.
For singular stars such as our sun, however, the situation is much trickier.
Most of them are apparently driven by the singular vision of a single pastor.
The album manifests no singular musical vision, but rather, eclecticism.
They create memorable movies and singular buildings.

British Dictionary definitions for singular

singular

/ˈsɪŋɡjʊlə/

adjective

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

noun

(grammar)

the singular number
a singular form of a word

Derived Forms

singularly, adverb
singularness, noun

Word Origin

C14: from Latin singulārissingle

Word Origin and History for 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.

singular in Culture

singular definition

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.)