singularities

Noun

singularity (countable and uncountable, plural singularities)

1. The state of being singular, distinct, peculiar, uncommon or unusual.
   • Pliny addeth this ſingularity to the Indian ſoil, that it is without weeds, that the second year the very falling down of the seeds yieldeth corn.a. 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, The Marrow of Historie, Or, an Epitome of All Historical Passages from the Creation, to the End of the Last Macedonian War, published 1650, page 40
2. An unusual action or behaviour.
   • When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book, written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it. […] My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity.a. 1790, Benjamin Franklin, “Beginning Life as a Printer”, in Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, New York: Henry Holt and Company, published 1916
3. A point where all parallel lines meet.
4. A point where a measured variable reaches unmeasurable or infinite value.
5. The value or range of values of a function for which a derivative does not exist.
6. (obsolete) Anything singular, rare, or curious.
   • Your Gallerie / Haue vve paſs'd through, not vvithout much content / In many ſingularities; […]c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

See all 9 meanings of singularity