individual
//ɪndɪˈvɪd͡ʒʊəl//
formalForms
- Plural
- individuals
- Comparative
- more individual
- Superlative
- most individual
Definitions
1.A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.
- “You have to be an individual,” said Ms. Smoke, a 40-year-old saleswoman, as she sipped her beverage. “You can’t just get black coffee.”
- He is an unusual individual.
2.A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.
- Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination […].
3.An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.
- It is typically held that chairs, trees, rocks, people and many of the so-called ‘everyday’ objects we encounter can be regarded as individuals.
- In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.
4.An element belonging to a population.
1.Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.
- As we can't print them all together, the individual pages will have to be printed one by one.
2.Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.
3.Not divisible without losing its identity.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #773
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Common
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
PIE word
*dwóh₁
From Medieval Latin indīviduālis, from Latin indīviduum (“an indivisible thing”), neuter of indīviduus (“indivisible, undivided”), from in + dīviduus (“divisible”), from dīvidō (“divide”).