single
English
[edit]10 | ||||
1 | 2 → | 10 → | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Cardinal: one Ordinal: first Latinate ordinal: primary Reverse order ordinal: last Latinate reverse order ordinal: ultimate Adverbial: one time, once Multiplier: onefold Latinate multiplier: single Distributive: singly Group collective: onesome Multipart collective: singlet, singleton Greek or Latinate collective: monad Greek collective prefix: mono- Latinate collective prefix: uni- Fractional: whole Elemental: singlet, singleton Greek prefix: proto- Number of musicians: solo Number of years: year |
Etymology
[edit]From Middle English single, sengle, from Old French sengle, saingle, sangle, from Latin singulus, a diminutive derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”). Akin to Latin simplex (“simple”). See simple, and compare singular.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɪŋɡl̩/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsɪŋɡəl/
Audio (General American): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Homophone: cingle
- Rhymes: -ɪŋɡəl
- Rhymes: -ɪməl
Adjective
[edit]single (not comparable)
- Not accompanied by anything else; one in number.
- Synonyms: lone, sole
- Can you give me a single reason not to leave right now?
- The vase contained a single long-stemmed rose.
- 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist:
- The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail. It’s therefore not surprising that most cameras mimic this arrangement.
- Not divided in parts.
- Designed for the use of only one.
- a single room
- Performed by one person, or one on each side.
- a single combat
- 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:
- These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant, […] / Who now defies thee thrice to single fight.
- Not married, and (in modern times) not dating or without a significant other.
- Synonyms: unmarried, unpartnered, available
- Forms often ask if a person is single, married, divorced, or widowed. In this context, a person who is dating someone but who has never married puts "single".
- Josh put down that he was a single male on the dating website.
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- To undergo such maiden pilgrimage.
But earthlier happy is the rose distilled
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.
- 1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- Single chose to live, and shunned to wed.
- (botany) Having only one rank or row of petals.
- (obsolete) Simple and honest; sincere, without deceit.
- 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke xj:
- Therefore, when thyne eye is single: then is all thy boddy full off light. Butt if thyne eye be evyll: then shall all thy body be full of darknes?
- 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
- I speak it with a single heart.
- Uncompounded; pure; unmixed.
- 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726, →OCLC:
- simple ideas are opposed to complex , and single ideas to compound.
- 1867, William Greenough Thayer Shedd, Homiletics, and Pastoral Theology, page 166:
- The most that is required is, that the passage of Scripture, selected as the foundation of the sacred oration, should, like the oration itself, be single, full, and unsuperfluous in its character.
- (obsolete) Simple; foolish; weak; silly.
- 1616–1618, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Queene of Corinth”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene i:
- He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice.
Derived terms
[edit]- a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
- are you single
- at a single stroke
- better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
- cheese single
- every single
- I'm single
- semi-single
- single-acting
- single and ready to mingle
- single angle quote
- single annulus
- single as a dollar bill
- single as a Pringle
- single bed
- single-blind
- single bond
- single-breasted
- single-cell
- single-celled
- single-celling
- single-chain
- single child
- single-click
- single combat
- single-course
- single cream
- single crochet
- single-crop
- single cross
- single crystal
- single currency
- single curve
- single data rate
- single-decker
- single-digit salute
- single dispatch
- singledom
- single-driver
- single-elimination
- single-elimination tournament
- single entendre
- single-entry
- single entry
- single-eyed
- single eyelid
- single father
- single-figure
- single file
- single-first cousin
- single flower
- single-fold
- single-foot
- single Gloucester
- single grave
- single-hand
- single-handed
- single-handedly
- single-handedness
- single-heading
- single-hearted
- single-heartedly
- single-heartedness
- singlehood
- single-horse
- single-incision laparoscopic surgery
- single-issue
- single jack
- single justice procedure
- single knot
- single leaf
- single lens reflex
- single-lens reflex
- single life
- single-line
- single-line whip
- single malt
- single malt scotch
- single malt whisky
- single-manned
- single-manning
- single market
- single-masted
- single-minded
- single-mindedly
- single-mindedness
- single-molecule magnet
- single money
- single mother
- singleness
- single-O
- single-o
- single option
- single-organismic
- single-page application
- single pane of glass
- single parent
- single-parent family
- single parenting
- single-payer
- single-phase
- single-phasing
- single-platform
- single-player
- singleplayer
- single-ply membrane
- single-ply roof
- single pneumonia
- single-point
- single point of failure
- single-point urban interchange
- single precision
- single procession
- single prop
- single quote
- singler
- single-reed
- single reed
- single responsibility principle
- single scull
- single-serve
- single-serving site
- single-sex
- single shell
- single-shot
- single shot
- single-sideband modulation
- single-sided
- single sourcing
- single-space
- single-spaced
- single-spacing
- single-speed bicycle
- single standard
- single star system
- singlestick
- single stitch
- single story
- single-strand binding protein
- single-stranded
- single-stream
- single supplement
- singlet
- single-tasking
- single tax
- single-taxism
- single ticket
- singleton
- single track
- single-track
- single-tracking
- single transferable vote
- single-tree
- single tree
- single union agreement
- single-use
- single-user
- single-valued
- single-valued function
- single-wheeler
- single-wide
- single-word
- single yellow line
- singly
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]
|
|
|
|
Noun
[edit]single (plural singles)
- (music) A 45 RPM vinyl record with one song on side A and one on side B.
- Antonym: album
- (music) A popular song released and sold (on any format) nominally on its own though usually having at least one extra track.
- The Offspring released four singles from their most recent album.
- One who is not married or does not have a romantic partner.
- Antonym: married
- He went to the party, hoping to meet some friendly singles there.
- (cricket) A score of one run.
- (baseball) A hit in baseball where the batter advances to first base.
- (dominoes) A tile that has a different value (i.e. number of pips) at each end.
- (US, informal) A bill valued at $1.
- I don't have any singles, so you'll have to make change.
- 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, page 94:
- She looked in her purse, found a ten and a single, gave him the ten. ‘I'll spend it on booze,’ he said.
- (UK) A one-way ticket.
- 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
- ‘I want to know, Mr Stone, if, in the course of the day, you have issued any tickets to a person dressed in Arab costume?’
His reply was prompt.
‘I have — by the last train, the 7.25, — three singles.’
- (Canadian football) A score of one point, awarded when a kicked ball is dead within the non-kicking team's end zone or has exited that end zone.
- Synonym: (official name in the rules) rouge
- (tennis, chiefly in the plural) A game with one player on each side, as in tennis.
- One of the reeled filaments of silk, twisted without doubling to give them firmness.
- (UK, Scotland, dialect) A handful of gleaned grain.
- (computing, programming) A floating-point number having half the precision of a double-precision value.
- Coordinate term: double
- 2011, Rubin H. Landau, A First Course in Scientific Computing, page 214:
- If you want to be a scientist or an engineer, learn to say “no” to singles and floats.
- (film) A shot of only one character.
- 1990, Jon Boorstin, The Hollywood Eye: What Makes Movies Work, page 94:
- But if the same scene is shot in singles (or “over-the-shoulder” shots where one of the actors is only a lumpy shoulder in the foreground), the editor and the director can almost redirect the scene on film.
- A single cigarette.
- (rail transport, obsolete) Synonym of single-driver.
- 1945 March and April, “Preserving Historic Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 64:
- A few such examples have been preserved, as is well known, such as one of the Stirling 8-ft. singles of the late Great Northern Railway, the Great Western 4-4-0 City of Truro, ex-Caledonian single-driver No. 123, the Brighton 0-4-2 Gladstone, and others.
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]Translations
[edit]
|
|
|
|
|
See also
[edit]Verb
[edit]single (third-person singular simple present singles, present participle singling, simple past and past participle singled)
- (baseball) To get a hit that advances the batter exactly one base.
- Pedro singled in the bottom of the eighth inning, which, if converted to a run, would put the team back into contention.
- (agriculture) To thin out.
- 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 7, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
- Paul went joyfully, and spent the afternoon helping to hoe or to single turnips with his friend.
- 1916, Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, page 241:
- The seeds did not germinate in many parts of a row until rains in end of June and thunderplumps in first week of July brought them up later in patches, so that no second sowing was necessary, but singling was done by stages.
- (of a horse) To take the irregular gait called singlefoot.
- 1860, William S. Clark, Massachusetts Agricultural College Annual Report:
- Many very fleet horses, when overdriven, adopt a disagreeable gait, which seems to be a cross between a pace and a trot, in which the two legs of one side are raised almost but not quite, simultaneously. Such horses are said to single, or to be single-footed.
- (intransitive, archaic) To sequester; to withdraw; to retire.
- 1863–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
- an agent singling itself from consorts
- (intransitive, archaic) To take alone, or one by one; to single out.
- 1863–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
- men […] commendable when they are singled
- (transitive) To reduce (a railway) to single track.
- 1959 June, “Talking of Trains: North Eastern report”, in Trains Illustrated, page 293:
- In the east of Yorkshire, Mr. A. M. Ross reports the belief of local railwaymen that the N.E.R. plans to single the York-Beverley line, leaving an adequate provision of passing loops, and to operate it by C.T.C. from York; […]
- 1962 October, “Talking of Trains: New signalbox at Twyford”, in Modern Railways, page 226:
- The Henley branch, recently singled and fully track-circuited, is worked by acceptance lever between Twyford and Shiplake cabins.
- 2020 November 18, Paul Bigland, “New infrastructure and new rolling stock”, in RAIL, number 918, page 48:
- Sadly, it's not the quickest route as much of it has been singled, but it still boasts some attractive stations as well as an active Community Rail Partnership, one of the first in the country.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- “single”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “single”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
[edit]Alemannic German
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from English single.
Adjective
[edit]single (indeclinable)
Catalan
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]single m (plural singles)
Further reading
[edit]- “single” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “single”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
- “single” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
Dutch
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (music record or track): IPA(key): /ˈsɪŋ.əl/, /ˈsɪŋ.ɡəl/
- ((person) without romantic partner): IPA(key): /ˈsɪŋ.ɡəl/
Audio: (file) - Hyphenation: sin‧gle
Noun
[edit]single m (plural singles, diminutive singletje n)
- A single (short music record, e.g. 45 RPM vinyl with an A side and a B side; main track of such a record).
- A single (person without a romantic partner).
Derived terms
[edit]Adjective
[edit]single (not comparable)
- single (without a romantic partner)
Inflection
[edit]Declension of single | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | single | |||
inflected | single | |||
comparative | — | |||
positive | ||||
predicative/adverbial | single | |||
indefinite | m./f. sing. | single | ||
n. sing. | single | |||
plural | single | |||
definite | single | |||
partitive | singles |
Finnish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]single
- single (45 rpm record; track nominally released on its own)
Declension
[edit]Inflection of single (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation) | |||
---|---|---|---|
nominative | single | singlet | |
genitive | singlen | singlejen | |
partitive | singleä | singlejä | |
illative | singleen | singleihin | |
singular | plural | ||
nominative | single | singlet | |
accusative | nom. | single | singlet |
gen. | singlen | ||
genitive | singlen | singlejen singlein rare | |
partitive | singleä | singlejä | |
inessive | singlessä | singleissä | |
elative | singlestä | singleistä | |
illative | singleen | singleihin | |
adessive | singlellä | singleillä | |
ablative | singleltä | singleiltä | |
allative | singlelle | singleille | |
essive | singlenä | singleinä | |
translative | singleksi | singleiksi | |
abessive | singlettä | singleittä | |
instructive | — | singlein | |
comitative | See the possessive forms below. |
Derived terms
[edit]See also
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “single”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03
French
[edit]Noun
[edit]single m (plural singles)
Further reading
[edit]- “single”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]single m or f by sense (invariable)
Adjective
[edit]single (invariable)
References
[edit]- ^ single in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Kapampangan
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From sangle.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]singlé
Verb
[edit]singlé
Norwegian Bokmål
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Borrowed from English single and singles.
Adjective
[edit]single
Noun
[edit]single m (definite singular singlen, indefinite plural singler, definite plural singlene)
- (music) a single (record or CD)
- Synonym: singelplate
- (sports) singles (e.g. in tennis)
Etymology 2
[edit]From singel.
Verb
[edit]single (imperative single, present tense singler, simple past and past participle singla or singlet)
- to sprinkle or scatter shingle
References
[edit]Norwegian Nynorsk
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from English single and singles.
Noun
[edit]single m (definite singular singlen, indefinite plural singlar, definite plural singlane)
Synonyms
[edit]- singelplate (record)
References
[edit]- “single” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Portuguese
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from English single.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]single m (plural singles)
Romanian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from English single. Doublet of singur.
Noun
[edit]single n (plural single-uri)
- single (album)
Declension
[edit]singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) single | singleul | (niște) single-uri | single-urile |
genitive/dative | (unui) single | singleului | (unor) single-uri | single-urilor |
vocative | singleule | single-urilor |
Spanish
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from English single. Doublet of sendos.
Noun
[edit]single m (plural singles)
- single (song released)
Noun
[edit]single m or f by sense (plural singles)
- single, single person
Etymology 2
[edit]Verb
[edit]single
- inflection of singlar:
Further reading
[edit]- “single”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Turkish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from English single.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]single (definite accusative singleı, plural singlelar)
Declension
[edit]Inflection | ||
---|---|---|
Nominative | single | |
Definite accusative | singleı | |
Singular | Plural | |
Nominative | single | singlelar |
Definite accusative | singleı | singleları |
Dative | singlea | singlelara |
Locative | singleda | singlelarda |
Ablative | singledan | singlelardan |
Genitive | singleın | singleların |
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sem-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English terms with homophones
- Rhymes:English/ɪŋɡəl
- Rhymes:English/ɪŋɡəl/2 syllables
- Rhymes:English/ɪməl
- Rhymes:English/ɪməl/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Botany
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Music
- en:Cricket
- en:Baseball
- en:Dominoes
- American English
- English informal terms
- British English
- en:Canadian football
- en:Tennis
- Scottish English
- English dialectal terms
- en:Computing
- en:Programming
- en:Film
- en:Rail transportation
- English verbs
- en:Agriculture
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- English transitive verbs
- en:One
- en:People
- Alemannic German terms borrowed from English
- Alemannic German unadapted borrowings from English
- Alemannic German terms derived from English
- Alemannic German lemmas
- Alemannic German adjectives
- gsw:Love
- Catalan terms borrowed from English
- Catalan terms derived from English
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan nouns
- Catalan countable nouns
- Catalan masculine nouns
- ca:Music
- Dutch terms borrowed from English
- Dutch terms derived from English
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch masculine nouns
- Dutch adjectives
- Finnish terms borrowed from English
- Finnish terms derived from English
- Finnish 2-syllable words
- Finnish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Finnish/iŋle
- Rhymes:Finnish/iŋle/2 syllables
- Finnish lemmas
- Finnish nouns
- Finnish nalle-type nominals
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Music
- Italian terms borrowed from English
- Italian terms derived from English
- Italian 2-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/inɡol
- Rhymes:Italian/inɡol/2 syllables
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian indeclinable nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian masculine nouns
- Italian feminine nouns
- Italian nouns with multiple genders
- Italian masculine and feminine nouns by sense
- Italian adjectives
- Italian indeclinable adjectives
- Kapampangan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Kapampangan lemmas
- Kapampangan nouns
- Kapampangan verbs
- Norwegian Bokmål terms borrowed from English
- Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from English
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål adjectives
- Norwegian Bokmål nouns
- Norwegian Bokmål masculine nouns
- nb:Music
- nb:Sports
- Norwegian Bokmål verbs
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms borrowed from English
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from English
- Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas
- Norwegian Nynorsk nouns
- Norwegian Nynorsk masculine nouns
- nn:Music
- nn:Sports
- Portuguese terms borrowed from English
- Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English
- Portuguese terms derived from English
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese masculine nouns
- pt:Music
- Romanian terms borrowed from English
- Romanian unadapted borrowings from English
- Romanian terms derived from English
- Romanian doublets
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian neuter nouns
- Spanish 2-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/inɡle
- Rhymes:Spanish/inɡle/2 syllables
- Spanish terms borrowed from English
- Spanish unadapted borrowings from English
- Spanish terms derived from English
- Spanish doublets
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- Spanish feminine nouns
- Spanish nouns with multiple genders
- Spanish masculine and feminine nouns by sense
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms
- Turkish terms borrowed from English
- Turkish unadapted borrowings from English
- Turkish terms derived from English
- Turkish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Turkish lemmas
- Turkish nouns
- tr:Music