Adjacent Words

Individual definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

INDIVID'UAL, . [L. individuus; in and dividuus, from divido, to divide.]
1. Not divided, or not to be divided; single; one; as an individual man or city.
--Under his great vicegerent reign abide
United, as one individual soul.
2. Pertaining to one only; as individual labor or exertions.
INDIVID'UAL, n. A single person or human being. This is the common application of the word; as,there was not an individual present.
1. A single animal or thing of any kind. But this word, as a noun, is rarely applied except to human beings.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: being or characteristic of a single thing or person; "individual drops of rain"; "please mark the individual pages"; "they went their individual ways" [syn: individual, single] [ant: common]
2: separate and distinct from others of the same kind; "mark the individual pages"; "on a case-by-case basis" [syn: individual, case-by-case, item-by-item]
3: characteristic of or meant for a single person or thing; "an individual serving"; "single occupancy"; "a single bed" [syn: individual, single]
4: concerning one person exclusively; "we all have individual cars"; "each room has a private bath" [syn: individual, private] n
1: a human being; "there was too much for one person to do" [syn: person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul]
2: a single organism

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Medieval Latin individualis, from Latin individuus indivisible, from in- + dividuus divided, from dividere to divide Date: 15th century 1. obsolete inseparable 2. a. of, relating to, or distinctively associated with an individual <an individual effort> b. being an individual or existing as an indivisible whole c. intended for one person <an individual serving> 3. existing as a distinct entity ; separate 4. having marked individuality <an individual style> Synonyms: see special, characteristic • individually adverb II. noun Date: 1605 1. a. a particular being or thing as distinguished from a class, species, or collection: as (1) a single human being as contrasted with a social group or institution <a teacher who works with individuals> (2) a single organism as distinguished from a group b. a particular person <are you the individual I spoke with on the telephone?> 2. an indivisible entity 3. the reference of a name or variable of the lowest logical type in a calculus

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 single. 2 particular, special; not general. 3 having a distinct character. 4 characteristic of a particular person. 5 designed for use by one person. --n. 1 a single member of a class. 2 a single human being as distinct from a family or group. 3 colloq. a person (a most unpleasant individual). Etymology: ME, = indivisible, f. med.L individualis (as IN-(1), dividuus f. dividere DIVIDE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Individual In`di*vid"u*al, n. 1. A single person, animal, or thing of any kind; a thing or being incapable of separation or division, without losing its identity; especially, a human being; a person. --Cowper. An object which is in the strict and primary sense one, and can not be logically divided, is called an individual. --Whately. That individuals die, his will ordains. --Dryden. 2. (Zo["o]l.) (a) An independent, or partially independent, zooid of a compound animal. (b) The product of a single egg, whether it remains a single animal or becomes compound by budding or fission.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Individual In`di*vid"u*al (?; 135), a. [L. individuus indivisible; pref. in- not + dividuus divisible, fr. dividere to divide: cf. F. individuel. See Divide.] 1. Not divided, or not to be divided; existing as one entity, or distinct being or object; single; one; as, an individual man, animal, or city. Mind has a being of its own, distinct from that of all other things, and is pure, unmingled, individual substance. --A. Tucker. United as one individual soul. --Milton. 2. Of or pertaining to one only; peculiar to, or characteristic of, a single person or thing; distinctive; as, individual traits of character; individual exertions; individual peculiarities.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(individuals) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. Individual means relating to one person or thing, rather than to a large group. They wait for the group to decide rather than making individual decisions... Aid to individual countries would be linked to progress towards democracy... ADJ: ADJ n • individually ...cheeses which come in individually wrapped segments... ADV: usu ADV with v, ADV adj, also ADV with cl 2. An individual is a person. ...anonymous individuals who are doing good things within our community. N-COUNT 3. If you describe someone or something as individual, you mean that you admire them because they are very unusual and do not try to imitate other people or things. It was really all part of her very individual personality... ADJ [approval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Particular, special, separate, single, one, unique. 2. Peculiar to one alone, one's own, peculiar, personal. 3. Full of character, positive, decided, self-guided, unconventional, independent, unique, sui generis. II. n. 1. Person, personage, character, being, somebody, some one. 2. Unit, single instance, particular one or object. 3. Person (in the high or emphatic sense), person full of character, self-directed being, self-determined being.

Moby Thesaurus

Adamite, a certain, absolute, aerobic organism, an, an existence, anaerobic organism, any, any one, article, atomic, autotrophic organism, being, body, cat, certain, chap, character, characteristic, concrete, connotative, creature, critter, customer, defined, definite, demonstrative, denominative, denotative, designative, detailed, determinate, diagnostic, different, discrete, distinct, distinctive, distinguished, duck, earthling, either, emblematic, entelechy, entity, esoteric, especial, evidential, exceptional, exclusive, exhibitive, existence, existent, express, expressive, extraordinary, fellow, figural, figurative, fixed, genetic individual, groundling, guy, hand, head, heterotrophic organism, homo, human, human being, identifying, ideographic, idiosyncratic, implicative, indicating, indicative, indicatory, individualistic, indivisible, inner, integer, integral, intimate, irreducible, item, joker, life, living being, living soul, living thing, lone, man, material, matter, meaningful, metaphorical, microbe, microorganism, minute, module, monad, monadic, monistic, morphological individual, mortal, naming, nose, noteworthy, object, one, ont, organic being, organism, organization, own, particular, party, pathognomonic, peculiar, person, persona, personage, personal, personality, physiological individual, point, precise, private, proper, representative, respective, semantic, semiotic, separate, several, signalizing, significant, significative, signifying, simple, single, singleton, singular, sole, solid, solipsistic, solitary, somebody, someone, something, soul, special, specific, stuff, substance, suggestive, symbolic, symbolistic, symbological, symptomatic, symptomatologic, tellurian, terran, thing, typical, unanalyzable, undivided, uniform, unique, unit, unitary, virus, whole, worldling, zooid, zoon