What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

What is the difference between single and individual?

single | individual | Synonyms |

Individual is a synonym of single.



As adjectives the difference between single and individual

is that single is not accompanied by anything else; one in number while individual is relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.

As nouns the difference between single and individual

is that single is a 45 RPM vinyl record with one song on side A and one on side B while individual is a person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.

As a verb single

is 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.

single

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Not accompanied by anything else; one in number.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Fenella Saunders
  • , title= Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=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.
  • Performed by one person, or one on each side.
  • a single combat
  • * Milton
  • These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant, / Who now defies thee thrice to single fight.
  • Not married, and also not dating.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.
  • * Dryden
  • 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), trans. Bible , Luke XI:
  • 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?
  • * Shakespeare
  • I speak it with a single heart.
  • Uncompounded; pure; unmixed.
  • * I. Watts
  • Simple ideas are opposed to complex, and single to compound.
  • (obsolete) Simple; foolish; weak; silly.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice.

    Synonyms

    * (not accompanied by anything else) lone, sole * (not divided in parts) unbroken, undivided, uniform * (not married) unmarried

    Antonyms

    * (single) divorced, married, widowed

    Derived terms

    * single-acting * single bed * single-blind/single blind * single bond * single-cell * single-celled * single-click * single combat * single cream * single crochet * single cross * single crystal * single currency * single data rate * single-decker * singledom * single-elimination * single entry * single-eyed * single file * single flower * single-fold * single-foot * single grave * single-handed * single-handedly * single-hearted * singlehood * single-horse * single-issue * single leaf * single-line * single knot * single malt * single market * single-minded * single money * single mother * singleness * single-o * single option * single parent * single-phase * single-phasing * singleplayer * single-ply roof * single pneumonia * single-point * single-point urban interchange * single point of failure * single precision * single prop * single quote * singler * single scull * single-sex * single shell * single shot * single-shot * single sourcing * single-space * single-spaced * single-spacing * single standard * single star system * singlestick * single stitch * single supplement * singlet * single tax * singleton * single track * single union agreement * single-valued * single-wide * single-word

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A 45 RPM vinyl record with one song on side A and one on side B.
  • A popular song released and sold (on any format) nominally on its own though usually has at least one extra track.
  • The Offspring released four singles from their most recent album.
  • One who is not 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 different values (i.e., number of pips) in each end.
  • A bill valued at $1.
  • I don't have any singles , so you'll have to make change.
  • (UK) A one-way ticket.
  • (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.
  • (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.
  • Antonyms

    * album * (one who is not married) married

    Derived terms

    * cassingle * lead single * singles bar * singles charts * split single * CD single

    See also

    * baseball * cricket

    Verb

    (singl)
  • 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.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • dogs who hereby can single out their master in the dark
  • (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 ,
  • Paul went joyfully, and spent the afternoon helping to hoe or to single turnips with his friend.
  • (of a horse) To take the irregular gait called singlefoot.
  • * W. S. Clark
  • 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.
  • To sequester; to withdraw; to retire.
  • * Hooker
  • an agent singling itself from consorts
  • To take alone, or one by one.
  • * Hooker
  • men commendable when they are singled

    Derived terms

    * single out

    See also

    (coefficient)

    References

    * *

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    individual

    English

    Alternative forms

    * individuall (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.
  • (legal) A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.
  • * 1982 , Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms :
  • Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination […].
  • An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, chapter=Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory, title=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, author=Steven French citation
  • , passage=It is typically held that chairs, trees, rocks, people and many of the so-called ‘everyday’ objects we encounter can be regarded as individuals .}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katrina G. Claw
  • , title= Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual .}}
  • (lb) An element belonging to a population.
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= End of the peer show , passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}
  • Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.
  • Synonyms

    * (relating to a single person or thing) (l), (l) * (intended for a single person or thing) (l), (l)

    Antonyms

    * (relating to a single person or thing) (l) * (intended for a single person or thing) (l), (l), (l)

    Statistics

    * ----