single

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See also: Single

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
English numbers (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
    Greek or Latinate collective: monad
    Greek collective prefix: mono-
    Latinate collective prefix: uni-
    Fractional: whole
    Elemental: singlet
    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]

Adjective[edit]

single (not comparable)

  1. 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.
  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
  5. 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.
  6. (botany) Having only one rank or row of petals.
  7. (obsolete) Simple and honest; sincere, without deceit.
  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:
      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.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

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.
  8. (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.’
  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.
    Synonym: (official name in the rules) 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.
  15. A single cigarette.
  16. (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]

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

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (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.
  2. (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.
  3. (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.
  4. (intransitive, archaic) To sequester; to withdraw; to retire.
  5. (intransitive, archaic) To take alone, or one by one; to single out.
  6. (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]

Number 1 2 3 4 5
Modifier single double / twofold triple / threefold quadruple / fourfold quintuple / pentuple / fivefold
Whole loner / singleton / monad pair / couple / twosome / dyad trio / threesome / triad / troika foursome / tetrad fivesome
Part only one / singlet twin / one of two / doublet triplet / one of three quadruplet / one of four quintuplet / pentuplet / one of five
Number 6 7 8 9 10
Modifier sextuple / hextuple / sixfold septuple / heptuple / sevenfold octuple / eightfold ninefold / nonuple tenfold / decuple
Whole sixsome sevensome eightsome ninesome tensome / decad
Part sextuplet / hextuplet / one of six one of seven / septuplet / heptuplet octuplet / one of eight one of nine / nonuplet one of ten / decuplet
Number 11 12 13 100 many
Modifier elevenfold / undecuple / hendecuple twelvefold / duodecuple thirteenfold / tredecuple a hundredfold / centuple multiple
Whole elevensome twelvesome thirteensome hundredsome
Part one of eleven / undecuplet / hendecuplet one of twelve / duodecuplet one of thirteen / tredecuplet one of a hundred / centuplet one of many / multiplet

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Alemannic German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English single.

Adjective[edit]

single (indeclinable)

  1. single (not in a relationship)
    Antonym: vergee

Catalan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

single m (plural singles)

  1. (music) single

Further reading[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (music record or track): IPA(key): /ˈsɪŋ.əl/, /ˈsɪŋ.ɡəl/
  • ((person) without romantic partner): IPA(key): /ˈsɪŋ.ɡəl/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: sin‧gle

Noun[edit]

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[edit]

Adjective[edit]

single (not comparable)

  1. single (without a romantic partner)

Inflection[edit]

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

Finnish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

single

  1. 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
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
abessive singlettä singleittä
instructive singlein
comitative See the possessive forms below.
Possessive forms of single (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
first-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative singleni singleni
accusative nom. singleni singleni
gen. singleni
genitive singleni singlejeni
singleinirare
partitive singleäni singlejäni
inessive singlessäni singleissäni
elative singlestäni singleistäni
illative singleeni singleihini
adessive singlelläni singleilläni
ablative singleltäni singleiltäni
allative singlelleni singleilleni
essive singlenäni singleinäni
translative singlekseni singleikseni
abessive singlettäni singleittäni
instructive
comitative singleineni
second-person singular possessor
singular plural
nominative singlesi singlesi
accusative nom. singlesi singlesi
gen. singlesi
genitive singlesi singlejesi
singleisirare
partitive singleäsi singlejäsi
inessive singlessäsi singleissäsi
elative singlestäsi singleistäsi
illative singleesi singleihisi
adessive singlelläsi singleilläsi
ablative singleltäsi singleiltäsi
allative singlellesi singleillesi
essive singlenäsi singleinäsi
translative singleksesi singleiksesi
abessive singlettäsi singleittäsi
instructive
comitative singleinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative singlemme singlemme
accusative nom. singlemme singlemme
gen. singlemme
genitive singlemme singlejemme
singleimmerare
partitive singleämme singlejämme
inessive singlessämme singleissämme
elative singlestämme singleistämme
illative singleemme singleihimme
adessive singlellämme singleillämme
ablative singleltämme singleiltämme
allative singlellemme singleillemme
essive singlenämme singleinämme
translative singleksemme singleiksemme
abessive singlettämme singleittämme
instructive
comitative singleinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular plural
nominative singlenne singlenne
accusative nom. singlenne singlenne
gen. singlenne
genitive singlenne singlejenne
singleinnerare
partitive singleänne singlejänne
inessive singlessänne singleissänne
elative singlestänne singleistänne
illative singleenne singleihinne
adessive singlellänne singleillänne
ablative singleltänne singleiltänne
allative singlellenne singleillenne
essive singlenänne singleinänne
translative singleksenne singleiksenne
abessive singlettänne singleittänne
instructive
comitative singleinenne
third-person possessor
singular plural
nominative singlensä singlensä
accusative nom. singlensä singlensä
gen. singlensä
genitive singlensä singlejensä
singleinsärare
partitive singleään
singleänsä
singlejään
singlejänsä
inessive singlessään
singlessänsä
singleissään
singleissänsä
elative singlestään
singlestänsä
singleistään
singleistänsä
illative singleensä singleihinsä
adessive singlellään
singlellänsä
singleillään
singleillänsä
ablative singleltään
singleltänsä
singleiltään
singleiltänsä
allative singlelleen
singlellensä
singleilleen
singleillensä
essive singlenään
singlenänsä
singleinään
singleinänsä
translative singlekseen
singleksensä
singleikseen
singleiksensä
abessive singlettään
singlettänsä
singleittään
singleittänsä
instructive
comitative singleineen
singleinensä

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

French[edit]

Noun[edit]

single m (plural singles)

  1. single room
  2. (music) single

Further reading[edit]

Italian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

single m or f by sense (invariable)

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

Adjective[edit]

single (invariable)

  1. single (unmarried, not in a relationship)
    Synonym: (formal) celibe

References[edit]

  1. ^ single in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Kapampangan[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From sangle.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Hyphenation: sing‧le
  • IPA(key): /sɪŋˈle/, [sɪŋˈlɛː]

Noun[edit]

singlé

  1. fried rice

Verb[edit]

singlé

  1. complete aspect of isangle

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from English single and singles.

Adjective[edit]

single

  1. plural of singel

Noun[edit]

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)

Etymology 2[edit]

From singel.

Verb[edit]

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

  1. to sprinkle or scatter shingle

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English single and singles.

Noun[edit]

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[edit]

References[edit]

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English single.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

single m (plural singles)

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

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English single. Doublet of singur.

Noun[edit]

single n (plural single-uri)

  1. single (album)

Declension[edit]

Spanish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈsinɡle/ [ˈsĩŋ.ɡle]
  • Rhymes: -inɡle
  • Syllabification: sin‧gle

Etymology 1[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English single. Doublet of sendos.

Noun[edit]

single m (plural singles)

  1. single (song released)

Noun[edit]

single m or f by sense (plural singles)

  1. single, single person

Etymology 2[edit]

Verb[edit]

single

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

Further reading[edit]

Turkish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English single.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

single (definite accusative singleı, plural singlelar)

  1. (music) single

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