Word.ws English Dictionary

singularity

/ˌsɪŋɡjəˈlæɹətɪ/

singularity noun: the state of being singular, distinct, peculiar, uncommon or unusual. Also the ellipsis of gravitational singularity.

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
    • I took notice of this little figure for the singularity of the instrument.1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  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
    • "Do you know," said she to Guido one morning, when, after asking her to sing, the Englishman had left the room in the very middle of her song, "that I have taken a fancy into my head, which quite accounts for Mr. Arden's singularities: it is, that I am like some one whom he loved and lost in early...1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 115
  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...
    • [N]either my Birth, my Education, nor the generall courſe of my life can promiſe no ſingularitie in any part of thoſe Actes they treate of: […]1613, G[ervase] M[arkham], “A Former Part, before the First Part: Being an Absolute Perfect Introduction into All the Rules of Husbandry; and Must First of All be Read, or the Readers Labour Will be...
  7. (obsolete) Possession of a particular or exclusive privilege, prerogative, or distinction.
    • St. Gregory, being himself a Bishop of Rome, and writing against the title of Universal Bishop, saith thus, "None of all my predecessors ever consented to use this ungodly title; no bishop of Rome ever took upon him this name of singularity."[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
    • Catholicism […] must be understood in opposition to the legal singularity of the Jewish nation.1659, John Pearson, An Exposition of the Creed, page 445
  8. Celibacy, singleness (as contrasted with marriage).
    • Marriage is the mother of the world, and preserves Kingdomes, and fils Cities, and Churches, and Heaven itself: Celibate, like the flie in the heart of an apple, dwels in a perpetuall sweetnesse, but sits alone, and is confin'd, and dies in singularity; but marriage, like the useful bee, builds a...1655, Jeremy Taylor, Eniautos: A Covrse of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year, page 223
    • Gradually the implication of biblical monotheism created an entailment of singularity and monogamy in sexual relations.1995, Joseph Monti, Arguing About Sex: The Rhetoric of Christian Sexual Morality, page 234

Proper noun capitalized: Singularity

Singularity

  1. The technological singularity.
    • The notion of the Singularity is predicated on Moore's Law, the 1965 observation by the Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, that the number of transistors that can be etched onto a sliver of silicon doubles at roughly two year intervals.2016 April 7, John Markoff, “When is the Singularity? Probably not in your lifetime”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02...

Also used as

singularity is also the ellipsis of gravitational singularity.

singularity is also the ellipsis of technological singularity.

singularity meaning in Hindi, Bengali, Odia and Vietnamese

singularity in Hindi

peculiar state or occurrence
अनोखापन anokhāpan

singularity in Bengali

এককত্ব

singularity in Odia

ଏକକତ୍ୱ, ଏକକତ୍ବ

singularity in Vietnamese

physics: point of infinite density
điểm kì dị

Examples of singularity in a sentence

  • A sub-cultural style or artifact, when adopted by the mainstream, loses its singularity.1980 August 16, Michael Bronski, “Does Life Incriminate Art?”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 5, page 10:
  • Comparisons between marriage and celibacy are dubious. […] In this sense, marriage is the institution of sexual partnering whereas celibacy is an institution of sexual singularity.1998, Judith A. Merkle, “Two Faces of Sexual Integration”, in A Different Touch: A Study of Vows in Religious Life, Liturgical Press...
  • As I write, I am conscious of a singularity that I live and that is supported by close friends, family, clients and religious community.2015, Susan J. Pollard, Celibacy and Soul: Exploring the Depths of Chastity, Fisher King Press, →ISBN, page 59:

All 28 example sentences with singularity

Synonyms of singularity

Forms of singularity

pluralsingularities

Plural of singularity: singularities

Origin of singularity

From Middle English singularite, from Old French singularité, from Late Latin singulāritās (“singleness”), from Latin singulāris (“single”). By surface analysis, singular + -ity.

Words formed from singularity

Phrases with singularity

Questions about singularity

What does singularity mean?
Singularity means the state of being singular, distinct, peculiar, uncommon or unusual.
What is singularity in Hindi?
Singularity in Hindi is अनोखापन (anokhāpan). See Singularity meaning in Hindi.
How do you use singularity in a sentence?
A sub-cultural style or artifact, when adopted by the mainstream, loses its singularity.
What part of speech is singularity?
Singularity can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce singularity?
Singularity is pronounced /ˌsɪŋɡjəˈlæɹətɪ/.
What is the plural of singularity?
The plural of singularity is singularities.

Words near singularity in the dictionary

  1. singularists
  2. singularitarian
  3. singularitarianism
  4. singularitarians
  5. singularities
  6. singularity
  7. singularization
  8. singularizations
  9. singularize
  10. singularized
  11. singularizes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: singularity (page history and authors); Singularity (page history and authors); singularity (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); singularity (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-singularity.wav.

Cite this entry: “singularity.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/singularity. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.