unitary
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Having the quality of oneness.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
yoonihtuhreeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈjunɪtɛɹi
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
Having the quality of oneness.
governmentof a system of government or administration
That concentrates power in a single body, rather than sharing it with more local bodies.
mathematicsof an algebra
That contains an identity element.
noun
uk
A unitary council.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Having the quality of oneness.
Used this way, unitary 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.
More ways to use unitary
- “A unitary as opposed to a federal form of government.”adjective
- “The unitary principles of nationalism.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Mathematics / unitary
Pertaining
Characterized
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
An undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting.
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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.