single

Not accompanied by anything else; one in number.

Adjective

  1. Not accompanied by anything else; one in number.
    • Can you give me a single reason not to leave right now?
    • The vase contained a single long-stemmed rose.
    • 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,...

    Synonyms: lone sole solitary

  2. Not divided in parts.
    • The potatoes left the spoon and landed in a single big lump on the plate.

    Synonyms: unbroken undivided uniform

  3. Designed for the use of only one.
    • a single room
  4. Performed by one person, or one on each side.
    • a single combat
    • These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant, […] / Who now defies thee thrice to single fight. - 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:
  5. Not married, and (in modern times) not dating or without a significant other.
    • 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.
    • 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. - c. 1595–1596 (date written), William...

    Synonyms: unmarried unpartnered available

  6. Having only one rank or row of petals.
  7. Simple and honest; sincere, without deceit.
    • 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? - 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale...
    • I speak it with a single heart. - 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 […]...
  8. Uncompounded; pure; unmixed.
    • simple ideas are opposed to complex , and single ideas to compound. - 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […],...
    • 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. - 1867, William...
  9. Simple; foolish; weak; silly.
    • He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice. - 1616–1618, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Queene of Corinth”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for...

Origin

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.

Related

singular singularity singularly

Derived

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 digital single-lens reflex digital single-lens reflex camera every single every single time I'm single nonsingle permasingle semi-single single-acting single action 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

Noun

  1. A 45 RPM vinyl record with one song on side A and one on side B.

    Antonyms: album

  2. 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.
  3. One who is not married or does not have a romantic partner.
    • He went to the party, hoping to meet some friendly singles there.

    Antonyms: married

  4. A score of one run.
    • He refused to take a single as the ball was dropped by his opponent's best fielder.
  5. A hit in baseball where the batter advances to first base.
  6. A tile that has a different value (i.e. number of pips) at each end.
  7. A bill valued at $1.
    • I don't have any singles, so you'll have to make change.
    • She looked in her purse, found a ten and a single, gave him the ten. ‘I'll spend it on booze,’ he said. - 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November...
  8. A one-way ticket.
    • ‘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.’ - 1897, Richard...
  9. 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.

    Synonyms: rouge

  10. A game with one player on each side, as in tennis.
    • After tea, Mrs. Inglethorp went to lie down to rest before her efforts in the evening and I challenged Mary Cavendish to a single at tennis. - 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books,...
  11. One of the reeled filaments of silk, twisted without doubling to give them firmness.
  12. A handful of gleaned grain.

Forms

singles

Related

baseball cricket

Derived

bingle cassingle CD single lead single maxi single ringle singles bar split single Texas League single triple single vingle

Verb

  1. 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.
  2. To thin out.
    • Paul went joyfully, and spent the afternoon helping to hoe or to single turnips with his friend. - 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 7, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
    • 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...
  3. To take the irregular gait called singlefoot.
    • 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...
  4. To sequester; to withdraw; to retire.
    • an agent singling itself from consorts - [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
  5. To take alone, or one by one; to single out.
    • men […] commendable when they are singled - [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
  6. To reduce (a railway) to single track.
    • 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...
    • The Henley branch, recently singled and fully track-circuited, is worked by acceptance lever between Twyford and Shiplake cabins. - 1962 October, “Talking of Trains: New signalbox at Twyford”, in Modern Railways, page...
    • 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. - 2020 November 18, Paul...

Forms

singles singling singled

Related

single solo double twofold triple threefold quadruple fourfold quintuple pentuple fivefold loner singleton monad pair couple twosome duo dyad trio threesome triad troika foursome

Derived

single out unsingled