singularity

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: sin=gu=lar=i=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

singularity, n. [L. singularitas: cf. F. singularité.].

•  The quality or state of being singular; some character or quality of a thing by which it is distinguished from all, or from most, others; peculiarity.  [1913 Webster]

  "Pliny addeth this singularity to that soil, that the second year the very falling down of the seeds yieldeth corn."  [1913 Webster]

  "I took notice of this little figure for the singularity of the instrument."  [1913 Webster]
•  Anything singular, rare, or curious.  [1913 Webster]

  "Your gallery
  Have we passed through, not without much content
  In many singularities."  [1913 Webster]
•  Possession of a particular or exclusive privilege, prerogative, or distinction.  [1913 Webster]

  "No bishop of Rome ever took upon him this name of singularity [universal bishop]."  [1913 Webster]

  "Catholicism . . . must be understood in opposition to the legal singularity of the Jewish nation."  [1913 Webster]
•  Celibacy.  Jer. Taylor.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

singularity, n. (pl. -ies)
1 the state or condition of being singular.
2 an odd trait or peculiarity.
3 Physics & Math. a point at which a function takes an infinite value, esp. in space-time when matter is infinitely dense.

Etymology

ME f. OF singularit{eacute} f. LL singularitas (as SINGULAR)

THESAURUS

singularity

aberration, abnormality, absurdity, anomaly, anticness, aroma, attribute, badge, bizarreness, bizarrerie, black hole, brand, cachet, cast, character, characteristic, combination, conceit, configuration, crackpotism, crank, crankiness, crankism, crotchet, crotchetiness, curiousness, cut, deformity, deviancy, deviation, differentia, differential, differentiation, differentness, distinctive feature, distinctiveness, divergence, dottiness, earmark, eccentricity, egohood, erraticism, erraticness, fantasticality, feature, figure, flavor, freakiness, freakishness, fusion, grotesqueness, grotesquerie, gust, hallmark, human factor, identity, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, impress, impression, index, individualism, individuality, indivisibility, intactness, integrality, integration, integrity, inviolability, irreducibility, irregularity, keynote, kink, lineaments, maggot, malformation, mannerism, mark, marking, mold, monstrosity, monstrousness, nature, nominalism, nonconformity, oddity, oddness, odor, oneness, organic unity, outlandishness, particularism, particularity, peculiarity, personal equation, personal identity, personality, personship, property, purity, quaintness, quality, queerness, quip, quirk, quirkiness, savor, seal, self-identity, selfhood, selfness, selfsameness, shape, simplicity, singleness, smack, solidarity, solidification, solidity, soul, specialty, stamp, strangeness, taint, tang, taste, teratism, token, trait, trick, twist, uncommonness, unconventionality, undividedness, unification, uniformity, uniqueness, unity, univocity, unnaturalness, weirdness, whim, whimsicality, whimsy, wholeness

ROGET THESAURUS

singularity

Speciality

N speciality, specialite, individuality, individuity, particularity, peculiarity, idiocrasy, personality, characteristic, mannerism, idiosyncrasy, specificness, singularity, reading, version, lection, state, trait, distinctive feature, technicality, differentia, particulars, details, items, counts, minutiae, I, self, I myself, myself, himself, herself, itself, special, particular, individual, specific, proper, personal, original, private, respective, definite, determinate, especial, certain, esoteric, endemic, partial, party, peculiar, appropriate, several, characteristic, diagnostic, exclusive, singular, idiomatic, idiotypical, typical, this, that, yon, yonder, specially, especially, particularly, in particular, in propria persona, ad hominem, for my part, each, apiece, one by one, one at a time, severally, respectively, each to each, seriatim, in detail, in great detail, in excruciating detail, in mind-numbing detail, bit by bit, pro hac vice, pro re nata, namely, that is to say, for example, id est, exemplia gratia, e, g, i, e, videlicet, viz, to wit, le style est l'homme meme.

Unconformity

N unconformity, nonconformity, unconformity, disconformity, unconventionality, informality, abnormity, abnormality, anomaly, anomalousness, exception, peculiarity, infraction of law, breach, of law, violation of law, violation of custom, violation of usage, infringement of law, infringement of custom, infringement of usage, teratism, eccentricity, bizarrerie, oddity, je ne sais quoi, monster, monstrosity, rarity, freak, freak of Nature, weirdo, mutant, rouser, snorter, individuality, idiosyncrasy, originality, mannerism, aberration, irregularity, variety, singularity, exemption, salvo, nonconformist, nondescript, character, original, nonesuch, nonsuch, monster, prodigy, wonder, miracle, curiosity, flying fish, black sheep, black swan, lusus naturae, rara avis, queer fish, mongrel, random breed, half-caste, half-blood, half-breed, metis, crossbreed, hybrid, mule, hinny, mulatto, tertium quid, hermaphrodite, phoenix, chimera, hydra, sphinx, minotaur, griffin, griffon, centaur, saggittary, kraken, cockatrice, wyvern, roc, dragon, sea serpent, mermaid, merman, merfolk, unicorn, Cyclops, men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, teratology, fish out of water, neither one thing nor another, neither fish nor fowl, neither fish flesh nor fowl nor good red herring, one in a million, one in a way, one in a thousand, outcast, outlaw, off the beaten track, oasis, uncomformable, exceptional, abnormal, abnormous, anomalous, anomalistic, out of order, out of place, out of keeping, out of tune, out of one's element, irregular, arbitrary, teratogenic, lawless, informal, aberrant, stray, wandering, wanton, peculiar, exclusive, unnatural, eccentric, egregious, out of the beaten track, off the beaten track, out of the common, out of the common run, beyond the pale of, out of the pale of, misplaced, funny, unusual, unaccustomed, uncustomary, unwonted, uncommon, rare, curious, odd, extraordinary, out of the ordinary, strange, monstrous, wonderful, unexpected, unaccountable, outre, out of the way, remarkable, noteworthy, queer, quaint, nondescript, none such, sui generis, unfashionable, fantastic, grotesque, bizarre, outlandish, exotic, tombe des nues, preternatural, denaturalized, heterogeneous, heteroclite, amorphous, mongrel, amphibious, epicene, half blood, hybrid, androgynous, androgynal, asymmetric, adelomorphous, bisexual, hermaphrodite, monoclinous, qualified, singular, unique, one-of-a-kind, newfangled, novel, non-classical, original, unconventional, unheard of, unfamiliar, undescribed, unprecedented, unparalleled, unexampled, unconformably, except, unless, save barring, beside, without, save and except, let alone, however, yet, but, once in a blue moon, once in a million years, Int, what on earth!, what in the world!, What the devil!, Holy cow!, Can you top that?, Sacre bleu, never was seen the like, never was heard the like, never was known the like, I could hardly believe it, I saw it, but I didn't believe it.