single.
Not accompanied by anything else; one in number.
Meaning & usage
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.
Not divided in parts.
The potatoes left the spoon and landed in a single big lump on the plate.
Designed for the use of only one.
a single room
Performed by one person, or one on each side.
a single combat
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.
Having only one rank or row of petals.
Simple and honest; sincere, without deceit.
Uncompounded; pure; unmixed.
Simple; foolish; weak; silly.
Where this word comes from
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.
A vinyl record with one song on side A and one on side B, usually 7 inches in diameter and played at 45 RPM.
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.
One who is not married or does not have a romantic partner.
He went to the party, hoping to meet some friendly singles there.
A score of one run.
He refused to take a single as the ball was dropped by his opponent's best fielder.
A hit in baseball where the batter advances to first base.
A tile that has a different value (i.e. number of pips) at each end.
A bill valued at $1.
I don't have any singles, so you'll have to make change.
A one-way ticket.
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.
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.
A handful of gleaned grain.
A floating-point number having half the precision of a double-precision value.
A shot of only one character.
A single cigarette.
Synonym of single-driver.
Where this word comes from
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.
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.
To thin out.
To take the irregular gait called singlefoot.
To sequester; to withdraw; to retire.
To take alone, or one by one; to single out.
To reduce (a railway) to single track.
Where this word comes from
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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.