individual
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnduhvijuhwuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪndəˈvɪdʒəwəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.
An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.
adjective
Being or characteristic of a single thing or person
Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.
Not divisible without losing its identity.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.
Used this way, individual is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A retirement plan that allows you to contribute a limited yearly sum toward your retirement.
Apart from others.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The quality of being individual.
The quality of being individual.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.