single definition

English single definition

English numbers ^(edit)

		10
		1	2  →	10  →
Cardinal: one     Ordinal: first     Latinate ordinal: primary     Adverbial: one time, once     Multiplier: onefold     Latinate multiplier: single     Distributive: singly     Collective: onesome     Greek or Latinate collective: monad     Greek collective prefix: mono-     Latinate collective prefix: uni-     Multiuse collective: singlet     Fractional: whole     Greek prefix: proto-     Number of musicians: solo     Number of years: year

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪŋɡəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋɡəl
• Homophone: cingle

Adjective

single (not comparable)

1. Not accompanied by anything else; one in number.

   Synonyms: lone, sole

   • 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.

   Can you give me a single reason not to leave right now?

   The vase contained a single long-stemmed rose.

2. Not divided in parts.

   Synonyms: unbroken, undivided, uniform

   The potatoes left the spoon and landed in a single big lump on the plate.

3. Designed for the use of only one.

   a single room

4. Performed by one person, or one on each side.

   a single combat

   • 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [EIKONOKLASTES] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], OCLC 1044608640:

     These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant, […] / Who now defies thee thrice to single fight.

5. Not married or (in modern times) not involved in a romantic relationship without being married or not dating anyone.

   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 606515358, [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 731548838:

     Single chose to live, and shunned to wed.

6. (botany) Having only one rank or row of petals.
7. (obsolete) Simple and honest; sincere, without deceit.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], OCLC 762018299, 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, 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 606515358, [Act V, scene iii]:

     I speak it with a single heart.

8. 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 1325830848:

     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.

9. (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 3083972, Act III, scene i:

     He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice.

Derived terms

Related terms

• singular
• singularity
• singularly

Translations

Noun

single (plural singles)

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

   Antonym: album

2. (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.

3. 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.

4. (cricket) A score of one run.
5. (baseball) A hit in baseball where the batter advances to first base.
6. (dominoes) A tile that has a different value (i.e. number of pips) at each end.
7. (US, informal) A bill valued at $1.

   I don't have any singles, so you'll have to make change.

   • 1966, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York: Bantam Books, published 1976, →ISBN, 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.

8. (UK) A one-way ticket.
9. (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. Officially known in the rules as a rouge.
10. (tennis, chiefly in the plural) A game with one player on each side, as in tennis.
11. One of the reeled filaments of silk, twisted without doubling to give them firmness.
12. (UK, Scotland, dialect) A handful of gleaned grain.
13. (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.

14. (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.

Derived terms

• cassingle
• lead single
• singles bar
• split single
• CD single

Descendants

• → Finnish: sinkku
• → German: Single
• → Japanese: シングル (shinguru)

Translations

See also

• baseball
• cricket

Verb

single (third-person singular simple present singles, present participle singling, simple past and past participle singled)

1. To identify or select one member of a group from the others; generally used with out, either to single out or to single (something) out.

   Eddie singled out his favorite marble from the bag.

   Yvonne always wondered why Ernest had singled her out of the group of giggling girls she hung around with.

   • 1915, Austen Chamberlain, speech on April 16, 1915

     Sir John French says that if he is to single out one regiment in the fighting at Ypres it is the Worcesters he would name? I do plead that some person should record these events, so that our history, national and local, may be the richer for them, that the children may be stimulated to do their duty by the knowledge of the way in which our soldiers are doing theirs to-day.

2. (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.

3. (agriculture) To thin out.
   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 7, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], OCLC 855945:

     Paul went joyfully, and spent the afternoon helping to hoe or to single turnips with his friend.

4. (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.

5. (intransitive, archaic) To sequester; to withdraw; to retire.
   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, OCLC 931154958, (please specify the page):

     an agent singling itself from consorts

6. (intransitive, archaic) To take alone, or one by one; to single out.
   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, J[ohn] S[penser], editor, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, OCLC 931154958, (please specify the page):

     men […] commendable when they are singled

7. (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

• single out

Translations

See also

Coefficient	1	2	3	4	5
Noun	single	double	triple	quadruple	quintuple / pentuple
Result	singlet	doublet / twin	triplet	quadruplet	quintuplet / pentuplet
Coefficient	6	7	8	9	10
Noun	sextuple / hextuple	septuple / heptuple	octuple	nonuple	decuple
Result	sextuplet / hextuplet	septuplet / heptuplet	octuplet	nonuplet	decuplet
Coefficient	11	12	13	100	many
Noun	undecuple / hendecuple	duodecuple	tredecuple	centuple	multiple
Result	undecuplet / hendecuplet	duodecuplet	tredecuplet	centuplet	multiplet

References

• single in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “single”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Nigels, glinse, ingles

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Alemannic German single definition

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English single.

Adjective

single (indeclinable)

1. single (not in a relationship)

   Antonym: vergee

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Catalan single definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈsiŋ.ɡəl/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈsiŋ.ɡel/

Noun

single m (plural singles)

1. (music) single

Further reading

• “single” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “single”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2022
• “single” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

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Dutch single definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation

• (music record or track): IPA^(key): /ˈsɪŋ.əl/, /ˈsɪŋ.ɡəl/
• ((person) without romantic partner): IPA^(key): /ˈsɪŋ.ɡəl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sin‧gle

Noun

single m (plural singles, diminutive singletje n)

1. A single (short music record, e.g. 45 RPM vinyl with an A side and a B side; main track of such a record).
2. A single (person without a romantic partner).

Derived terms

• debuutsingle
• hitsingle

Adjective

single (not comparable)

1. single (without a romantic partner)

Inflection

Inflection 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

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Finnish single definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiŋle/, [ˈs̠iŋle̞]
• Rhymes: -iŋle
• Syllabification^(key): sing‧le

Noun

single

1. single (45 rpm record; track nominally released on its own)

Declension

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 singleinrare
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
instructive		—	singlein
abessive		singlettä	singleittä
comitative		—	singleineen

Possessive forms of single (type nalle)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	singleni	singlemme
2nd person	singlesi	singlenne
3rd person	singlensä

See also

• pitkäsoitto

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French single definition

Noun

single m (plural singles)

1. single room
2. (music) single

Further reading

• “single”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Italian single definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsin.ɡol/^[1]
• Rhymes: -inɡol

Noun

single m or f (invariable)

1. single, loner (person who lives alone and has no emotional ties)

Adjective

single (invariable)

1. single (unmarried, not in a relationship)

   Synonym: (formal) celibe

References

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Norwegian Bokmål single definition

Alternative forms

• singel

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English single and singles.

Adjective

single

1. plural of singel

Noun

single m (definite singular singlen, indefinite plural singler, definite plural singlene)

1. (music) a single (record or CD)

   Synonym: singelplate

2. (sports) singles (e.g. in tennis)

References

• “single” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology 2

From singel.

Verb

single (imperative single, present tense singler, simple past and past participle singla or singlet)

1. to sprinkle or scatter shingle

References

• “single” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

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Norwegian Nynorsk single definition

Alternative forms

• singel

Etymology

Borrowed from English single and singles.

Noun

single m (definite singular singlen, indefinite plural singlar, definite plural singlane)

1. (music) a single (record or CD)
2. (sports) singles (e.g. in tennis)

Synonyms

• singelplate (record)

References

• “single” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Portuguese single definition

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English single.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsĩ.ɡow/

Noun

single m (plural singles)

1. (music) single (song released on its own or with an extra track)

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Romanian single definition

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English single. Doublet of singur.

Noun

single n (plural single-uri)

1. single (album)

Declension

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Spanish single definition

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English single. Doublet of sendos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsinɡle/, [ˈsĩŋ.ɡle]

Noun

single m (plural singles)

1. single (song released)

Noun

single m or f (plural singles)

1. single, single person

Verb

single

1. inflection of singlar:
   1. first-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular present subjunctive
   3. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “single”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

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Turkish single definition

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English single.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siŋɡɫ̩/

Noun

single (definite accusative singleı, plural singlelar)

1. (music) single

Declension

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