unilateral
adjective
Simple meaning
Involving only one part or side.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
yoonuhlateruhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
junəˈlætɚəl
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.
adjective
Involving only one part or side
Done by one side only.
Affecting only one side of the body.
Binding or affecting one party only.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Involving only one part or side
Used this way, unilateral 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.
Binding
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Paralysis of one side of the body.
A one-sided agreement whereby you promise to do (or refrain from doing) something in return for a performance (not a promise).
Line of descent traced through one side of the family.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: involving only one part or side
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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.