singularity

noun

sin·​gu·​lar·​i·​ty ˌsiŋ-gyə-ˈler-ə-tē 

-ˈla-rə-

plural singularities

1

: something that is singular: such as

a

: a separate unit

b

: unusual or distinctive manner or behavior : peculiarity

2

: the quality or state of being singular

3

: a point at which the derivative of a given function of a complex variable does not exist but every neighborhood of which contains points for which the derivative does exist

4

: a point or region of infinite mass density at which space and time are infinitely distorted by gravitational forces and which is held to be the final state of matter falling into a black hole

Synonyms

• crotchet
• curiosity
• eccentricity
• erraticism
• idiosyncrasy
• individualism
• kink
• mannerism
• oddity
• peculiarity
• quiddity
• quip
• quirk
• tic
• trick
• twist

Examples of singularity in a Sentence

People could not understand the singularity of his imagination.

a college professor with singularities of dress and speech that have long endeared him to his students

Recent Examples on the Web

At that moment, a person who loves Broadway theater and adores its creativity and singularity surely was justified throwing up their hands in capitulation to the phenomenally successful streaming service whose stock has been rising even as the rest of Wall Street is in the tank. —Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 23 Apr. 2025

In the last few years, physicists have been revisiting the chaos around singularities with new mathematical tools. —Lyndie Chiou, Wired News, 20 Apr. 2025

And inside a black hole everything is crushing toward that singularity, whereas our universe is of course expanding. —Paul M. Sutter, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2025

Thus, if dark matter turned out to be composed of tiny black holes, this would be an indirect proof in favor of the absence of singularities. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 24 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for singularity

• angularity
• bipolarity
• capillarity
• cellularity
• circularity
• familiarity
• granularity
• insincerity
• insularity
• modularity
• osmolarity
• popularity

Kids Definition

singularity

noun

sin·​gu·​lar·​i·​ty ˌsiŋ-gyə-ˈlar-ət-ē 

plural singularities

1

: the quality or state of being singular

2

: something that is singular : peculiarity

3

: a point or region of infinite density which is held to be the final state of matter falling into a black hole