unipolar

adjective

uni·​po·​lar ˌyü-ni-ˈpō-lər 

1

: having or oriented in respect to a single pole: such as

a

: having or involving the use of a single magnetic or electrical pole

b

: based on or controlled by a single factor or view

China mistrusts a unipolar, U.S.-dominated world.

—Thomas A. Stewart

2

psychology : being, characteristic of, or affected by unipolar depression

unipolar depressive episodes

unipolar patients

Examples of unipolar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For most of this time, the structure of that order could be described as unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar, depending on how power was distributed among countries. —Ian Bremmer, Foreign Affairs, 13 May 2025

Meanwhile, many Americans seem loath to accept or even acknowledge one of the fundamental developments of our time: the transformation of America from a unipolar world behemoth to a lesser power in a multipolar environment. —Robert W. Merry, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 7 Mar. 2025

For years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States enjoyed superpower status in a unipolar world. —Dennis Ross, Foreign Affairs, 19 Mar. 2025

Such flexibility was precisely what was lacking in the consciousness of former President Joe Biden and his foreign policy advisers, who clung to the old unipolar days when the American president could hold sway throughout the world with no one to say him nay. —Robert W. Merry, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 7 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1806, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing unipolar

• unipolar depression
• unipolar disorder

Rhymes for unipolar

• ambipolar
• areolar
• bronchiolar
• circumpolar
• equimolar
• monopolar
• multipolar
• nucleolar
• vacuolar
• arteriolar
• microcontroller
• bipolar

Medical Definition

unipolar

adjective

uni·​po·​lar ˌyü-ni-ˈpō-lər 

1

: involving or being an electrode or lead attached to the surface of a bodily site (as the chest) for recording the difference in electrical potential between the site and that of another electrode or lead having zero potential

2

of a neuron : having but one process

3

: being, characteristic of, or affected by unipolar depression

unipolar depressive episodes

unipolar patients

compare bipolar