singular

UK: /ˈsɪŋgjʊlə^r/ US: /ˈsɪŋgjəlɚ/ ,(sing′gyə lər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

sin•gu•lar /ˈsɪŋgyəlɚ/   adj. 

1. Grammar of or belonging to the grammatical category of number indicating that a word refers to or names one person, place, thing, or instance, such as child, it, or goes.
2. extraordinary;
   remarkable;
   exceptional:
   a singular success.
3. unusual or strange:
   singular behavior.

n. 

4. Grammar the singular number:
   [uncountable] The word "pants'' is never in the singular; it always takes a plural verb.
5. Grammar [countable] a word or other form in the singular:
   What is the singular for the plural word addenda ?
   Abbr.: sing.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

sin•gu•lar  (sing′gyə lər), adj. 

1. extraordinary;
   remarkable;
   exceptional:
   a singular success.
2. unusual or strange;
   odd;
   different:
   singular behavior.
3. being the only one of its kind;
   distinctive;
   unique:
   a singular example.
4. separate;
   individual.
5. Grammar noting or pertaining to a member of the category of number found in many languages that indicates that a word form has one referent or denotes one person, place, thing, or instance, as English boy and thing, which are singular nouns, or goes, a singular form of the verb go. Cf. dual (def. 4), plural (def. 4).
6. Philosophy [Logic.]
   • of or pertaining to something individual, specific, or not general.
   • (of a proposition) containing no quantifiers, as "Socrates was mortal.''
7. Mathematics
   • of or pertaining to a linear transformation from a vector space to itself that is not one-to-one.
   • of or pertaining to a matrix having a determinant equal to zero.
8. [Obs.] private.
9. [Obs.] single.

n. [Gram.]

10. Grammar the singular number.
11. Grammar a form in the singular.

• Latin singulāris. See single, -ar¹
• Middle English 1300–50

sin′gu•lar•ly, adv. 
sin′gu•lar•ness, n. 
Synonyms

• 1. –4. peculiar.
• 2. bizarre, queer, curious.
• 3. uncommon, rare.
• 4. single.

Antonyms

• 1. usual.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

singular / ˈsɪŋɡjʊlə/ adjective

1. remarkable; exceptional; extraordinary: a singular feat
2. unusual; odd: a singular character
3. unique
4. denoting a word or an inflected form of a word indicating that not more than one referent is being referred to or described
5. of or referring to a specific thing or person as opposed to something general

noun

1. the singular number
2. a singular form of a word

Etymology: 14th Century: from Latin singulāris single

ˈsingularly adverb