individual

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Medieval Latin indīviduālis, from Latin individuum (“an indivisible thing”), neuter of individuus (“indivisible, undivided”), from in + dividuus (“divisible”), from divido (“divide”).

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌɪndɪˈvɪd͡ʒʊəl/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

individual (plural individuals)

  1. A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.
    He is an unusual individual.
  2. (law) A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.
    • 1982, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
      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.
    • 2006, Steven French, “Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory”, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy‎:
      It is typically held that chairs, trees, rocks, people and many of the so-called ‘everyday’ objects we encounter can be regarded as individuals.
    • 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
      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. (statistics) An element belonging to a population.

Translations

Adjective

individual (comparative more individual, superlative most individual)

  1. Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.
    • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:
      Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.
    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.
    individual personal pension; individual cream cakes
  3. Not divisible without losing its identity.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading
  • individual in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • individual in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
  • "individual" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 161.

Catalan

Noun

individual (masculine and feminine plural individuals)

  1. individual

Derived terms

Further reading

Galician

Adjective

individual m or f (plural individuais)

  1. individual

Derived terms

Further reading

Portuguese

Adjective

individual m or f (plural individuais, comparable)

  1. individual

Spanish

Adjective

individual (plural individuales)

  1. individual

Derived terms

Noun

individual m (plural individuales)

  1. place mat

Further reading
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