individual

Alternative forms

• individuall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin indīviduālis, from Latin indīviduum (“an indivisible thing”), neuter of indīviduus (“indivisible, undivided”), from in + dīviduus (“divisible”), from dīvidō (“divide”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪndɪˈvɪd͡ʒʊ(ə)l/, /ɪndɪˈvɪdjʊ(ə)l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɪndɪˈvɪd͡ʒ(u)əl/, /ˌɪndə-/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

individual (plural individuals)

1. A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.

   He is an unusual individual.

   • 2024 September 16, Priya Krishna, “The Customized Drink Is Out of Control”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     “You have to be an individual,” said Ms. Smoke, a 40-year-old saleswoman, as she sipped her beverage. “You can’t just get black coffee.”

     (Can we archive this URL?)

2. (law) A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.
   • 1982, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

     Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination […].

3. An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.
   • 2006, Steven French, “Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory”, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy‎:

     It is typically held that chairs, trees, rocks, people and many of the so-called ‘everyday’ objects we encounter can be regarded as individuals.

   • 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

4. (statistics) An element belonging to a population.

Adjective

individual (comparative more individual, superlative most individual)

1. Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.

   As we can't print them all together, the individual pages will have to be printed one by one.

   • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:

     Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.

2. Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.

   individual personal pension; individual cream cakes

3. Not divisible without losing its identity.

Further reading

• “individual”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “individual”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• "individual" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 161.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [in.di.βi.ðuˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [in.di.vi.ðuˈal]

Adjective

individual m or f (masculine and feminine plural individuals)

1. individual

Adjective

individual m or f (plural individuais)

1. individual

Etymology

From indivíduo +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: in‧di‧vi‧du‧al

Adjective

individual m or f (plural individuais)

1. individual

Further reading

• “individual”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Etymology

Borrowed from French individuel. By surface analysis, individ +‎ -ual.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

individual m or n (feminine singular individuală, masculine plural individuali, feminine and neuter plural individuale)

1. individual

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /indibiˈdwal/ [ĩn̪.d̪i.β̞iˈð̞wal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: in‧di‧vi‧dual

Adjective

individual m or f (masculine and feminine plural individuales)

1. individual
2. case-by-case
3. one-on-one (e.g., relationship or bond)
4. one-man (e.g., a one-man show)
5. personal, individualized

Noun

individual m (plural individuales)

1. place mat

   Synonym: salvamanteles