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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
singular
I.adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
singular/plural (=showing whether the subject is one thing or person or more)
▪ The third person singular is 'lies'.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
form
▪ Plurals and singulars All nouns have a plural and a singular form.
▪ Strange Singulars Sometimes the plural or singular form of a noun is so rarely used that people forget what it is.
▪ It may seem petty to distinguish between the plural and singular form, and therefore unnecessary to include both in the index.
▪ But after escaping to join another gang, Devi carried out a singular form of retribution.
▪ Autogena is not the first artist to be attracted by their singular form.
▪ Yet one had to admit that the divine selection could take singular forms.
lack
▪ Even this singular lack of results did not undermine him.
▪ Congress, at least publicly, exhibited a singular lack of understanding of the causes and nature of the Seminole War.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Enya's music possesses a singular sense of vision and originality.
▪ The singular objective of this partnership is to improve the company's safety performance.
▪ We saw another singular item on the list of objects for sale: Napoleon's reading glasses.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A singular boundary point q can then be classified according to this scheme.
▪ And damn him for daring to pry into my affairs and for subtly mocking my singular state!
▪ It is an honest, remarkable and singular thing in itself.
▪ No explanation or suggestions accompanied this rather singular statement.
▪ She wished she could fulfil her search for this singular man from her bed, by the power of her mind alone.
▪ This singular passion did not long remain concealed from the Goddess of Passionate Love.
▪ What this condition of the theatre indicates is that the establishing of a singular text for many plays is extremely difficult.
II.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ For a long time yet, the word civilization will continue to be used in both singular and plural.
▪ If we were asked, now, to define civilization in the singular, we should certainly be more hesitant.
▪ Note that criteria, data and dicta are plural words: the singulars are criterion, datum and dictum.
▪ The universal, the totality, can only be known through the singular.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Singular

Singular \Sin"gu*lar\ (s[i^][ng]"g[-u]*l[~e]r), a. [OE. singuler, F. singulier, fr. L. singularius, singularis, fr. singulus single. See Single, a.]

  1. Separate or apart from others; single; distinct. [Obs.]
    --Bacon.

    And God forbid that all a company Should rue a singular man's folly.
    --Chaucer.

  2. Engaged in by only one on a side; single. [Obs.]

    To try the matter thus together in a singular combat.
    --Holinshed.

  3. (Logic) Existing by itself; single; individual.

    The idea which represents one . . . determinate thing, is called a singular idea, whether simple, complex, or compound.
    --I. Watts.

  4. (Law) Each; individual; as, to convey several parcels of land, all and singular.

  5. (Gram.) Denoting one person or thing; as, the singular number; -- opposed to dual and plural.

  6. Standing by itself; out of the ordinary course; unusual; uncommon; strange; as, a singular phenomenon.

    So singular a sadness Must have a cause as strange as the effect.
    --Denham.

  7. Distinguished as existing in a very high degree; rarely equaled; eminent; extraordinary; exceptional; as, a man of singular gravity or attainments.

  8. Departing from general usage or expectations; odd; whimsical; -- often implying disapproval or censure.

    His zeal None seconded, as out of season judged, Or singular and rash.
    --Milton.

    To be singular in anything that is wise and worthy, is not a disparagement, but a praise.
    --Tillotson.

  9. Being alone; belonging to, or being, that of which there is but one; unique.

    These busts of the emperors and empresses are all very scarce, and some of them almost singular in their kind.
    --Addison.

    Singular point in a curve (Math.), a point at which the curve possesses some peculiar properties not possessed by other points of the curve, as a cusp point, or a multiple point.

    Singular proposition (Logic), a proposition having as its subject a singular term, or a common term limited to an individual by means of a singular sign.
    --Whately.

    Singular succession (Civil Law), division among individual successors, as distinguished from universal succession, by which an estate descended in intestacy to the heirs in mass.

    Singular term (Logic), a term which represents or stands for a single individual.

    Syn: Unexampled; unprecedented; eminent; extraordinary; remarkable; uncommon; rare; unusual; peculiar; strange; odd; eccentric; fantastic.

Singular

Singular \Sin"gu*lar\, n.

  1. An individual instance; a particular. [Obs.]
    --Dr. H. More.

  2. (Gram) The singular number, or the number denoting one person or thing; a word in the singular number.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
singular

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.

Wiktionary
singular

a. 1 Being only one of a larger population. 2 Being the only one of the kind; unique. 3 Distinguished by superiority; eminent; extraordinary; exceptional. 4 Out of the ordinary; curious. 5 (context grammar English) Referring to only one thing or person. 6 (context linear algebra of matrix English) Having no inverse. 7 (context linear algebra of transformation English) Having the property that the matrix of coefficients of the new variables has a determinant equal to zero. 8 (context set theory of a cardinal number English) Not equal to its own (l/en: cofinality). 9 (context legal English) Each; individual. 10 (context obsolete English) Engaged in by only one on a side; single. n. (context grammar English) A form of a word that refers to only one person or thing.

WordNet
singular
  1. adj. unusual or striking; "a remarkable sight"; "such poise is singular in one so young" [syn: remarkable]

  2. beyond or deviating from the usual or expected; "a curious hybrid accent"; "her speech has a funny twang"; "they have some funny ideas about war"; "had an odd name"; "the peculiar aromatic odor of cloves"; "something definitely queer about this town"; "what a rum fellow"; "singular behavior" [syn: curious, funny, odd, peculiar, queer, rum, rummy]

  3. being a single and separate person or thing; "can the singular person be understood apart from his culture?"; "every fact in the world might be singular...unlike any other fact and sole of its kind"-William James

  4. grammatical number category referring to a single item or unit [ant: plural]

  5. the single one of its kind; "a singular example"; "the unique existing example of Donne's handwriting"; "a unique copy of an ancient manuscript"; "certain types of problems have unique solutions" [syn: unique]

singular

n. the form of a word that is used to denote a singleton [syn: singular form] [ant: plural]

Wikipedia
Singular

Singular may refer to:

  • Singular number, in grammar, a term for words denoting a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms
  • Singular homology
  • SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS)
  • Singular or sounder, a group of boar, see List of animal names
  • Singular matrix, a matrix that is not invertible
  • Singular measure, a measure or probability distribution whose support has zero Lebesgue (or other) measure
  • Singular cardinal, an infinite cardinal number that is not a regular cardinal
  • The property of a singularity or singular point in various meanings; see Singularity (disambiguation)
Singular (software)

Singular (typeset Singular) is a computer algebra system for polynomial computations with special emphasis on the needs of commutative and non-commutative algebra, algebraic geometry, and singularity theory. Singular is free software released under the GNU General Public License. Problems in non-commutative algebra can be tackled with the Singular offspring Plural. Singular is developed under the direction of Wolfram Decker, Gert-Martin Greuel, Gerhard Pfister, and Hans Schönemann, who head Singular's core development team within the Department of Mathematics of the University of Kaiserslautern.

In the DFG Priority Program 1489, interfaces to GAP, Polymake and Gfan are being developed in order to cover recently established areas of mathematics involving convex and algebraic geometry, such as toric and tropical geometry.

Singular (band)

Singular is a band from Thailand. The group includes "Sin" (born on 1 October 1985), a singer- songwriter who has performed with the Bangkok Opera, and "Nut" (born on 12 August 1986), the band’s guitarist who won a gold medal at the national guitar awards). Their musical character is likened to the Metro-Acoustic style.

Usage examples of "singular".

From the summit he was cast down headlong, and dashed in pieces on the pavement, in the presence of innumerable spectators, who filled the forum of Taurus, and admired the accomplishment of an old prediction, which was explained by this singular event.

It was Monsignor Marbot who went in procession to the battlefield of the Marne with crucifix and banner and white-robed acolytes, and in an allocution of singular beauty consecrated those stricken fields with the last rites of the Church.

My friend, who in the meanwhile had been observing him with curiosity, conceiving him to be a foreigner, inquired in the course of the evening who he was, remarking that he had never seen a man with such a Cain-like mark on the forehead before, alluding to that singular scowl which struck me so forcibly when I first saw him, and which appears to have made a stronger impression upon me than it did upon many others.

Jew forgetting the very word proselyte, the German forgetting his anthropometric variations, and the Italian forgetting everything, are obsessed by the singular purity of their blood, and the danger of contamination the mere continuance of other races involves.

But it was a very curious thing that this antipathy should be alleged as the reason for his singular mode of life.

With singular justice Providence has ticketed him as appropriately as his worst enemy would have dared to do.

Its most visible sign is not so much the use of the Czech language as it is a quite singular architectonic feature: the nearly obsessive recurrence of the number seven.

The arrondissement of Arcis-sur-Aube then found itself in a singular position.

The most singular character about the leaves is that the apex is enlarged into a little knob, covered with glands, and about a third broader than the adjoining part of the attenuated leaf.

Her own singular experiences in this enchanted region were certainly not suggested by anything she had heard, and may be considered psychologically curious by those who would not think of attributing any mystical meaning to them.

I have said that there had come over Bernard a singular sense of freedom.

He looked at Bernard for some moments intently, with a singular expression.

Therefore, being treated and bespoken as almost an equal by this wellborn, noble, obviously highly educated and widely traveled Sassenach lord was a singular and most exciting experience for the humble man.

David, and the goodwife has had a flux in the legs this twelvemonth back, but the Lord has showed me singular favour, and my damps are lightened since a leech in Edinburgh prescribed a hyperion of bourtree and rue.

When he had done, the latter cast one look, in which curiosity and aversion were in singular union, at the marked countenance of the Bravo, and then he silently motioned to him to depart.