• Individual

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /ˌɪndɪˈvɪdÍ¡Ê’uÉ™l/

    Alternative forms

    Origin

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

    Full definition of individual

    Noun

    individual

    (plural individuals)
    1. A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.
      He is an unusual individual.
    2. (legal) 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, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Chapter Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory, 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, Katrina G. Claw, Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm, 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.

    Adjective

    individual

    1. Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.
      • 2013-06-01, End of the peer show, 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.
    2. As we can't print them all together, the individual pages will have to be printed one by one.
    3. Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.
      individual personal pension; individual cream cakes

    Synonyms

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