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The state of being singular, distinct, peculiar, uncommon or unusual.countableuncountable
- Pliny addeth this ſingularity to the Indian ſoil, that it is without weeds, that the second year the very falling down of the seeds yieldeth corn.
- I took notice of this little figure for the singularity of the instrument.
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An unusual action or behaviour.countableuncountable
- When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book, written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it. […] My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singulari
- "Do you know," said she to Guido one morning, when, after asking her to sing, the Englishman had left the room in the very middle of her song, "that I have taken a fancy into my head, which quite accounts for Mr. Arden's singularities: it i
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A point where all parallel lines meet.countableuncountable
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A point where a measured variable reaches unmeasurable or infinite value.countableuncountable
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The value or range of values of a function for which a derivative does not exist.countableuncountable
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Ellipsis of gravitational singularity (“a point or region in spacetime in which gravitational forces cause matter to have an infinite density; associated with black holes”).abbreviationalt-ofcountable
- Consequently the interior of a black hole is empty, with a singularity at the centre.
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Ellipsis of technological singularity (“a hypothetical turning point in the future, the culmination of ever-accelerating technological progress, when human history as we have known it ends, and a strange new era begins. For some writers, the catalyst is superhuman machine intelligence”).abbreviationalt-ofcapitalized
- [Vernor] Vinge was among those (along with, notably, Ray Kurzweil) to discuss the transformation of humans by technology, coming in a matter of decades, referred to as "the singularity."
- The notion of the Singularity is predicated on Moore's Law, the 1965 observation by the Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, that the number of transistors that can be etched onto a sliver of silicon doubles at roughly two year intervals.
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Anything singular, rare, or curious.countableobsoleteuncountable
- Your Gallerie / Haue vve paſs'd through, not vvithout much content / In many ſingularities; […]
- [N]either my Birth, my Education, nor the generall courſe of my life can promiſe no ſingularitie in any part of thoſe Actes they treate of: […]
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Possession of a particular or exclusive privilege, prerogative, or distinction.countableobsoleteuncountable
- Catholicism […] must be understood in opposition to the legal singularity of the Jewish nation.
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Celibacy, singleness (as contrasted with marriage).countableuncountable
- Gradually the implication of biblical monotheism created an entailment of singularity and monogamy in sexual relations.
- Comparisons between marriage and celibacy are dubious. […] In this sense, marriage is the institution of sexual partnering whereas celibacy is an institution of sexual singularity.
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