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one

UK/wʌn/ US/wɐn(˦)~wän(˦)/ very common us
adjective (10) noun (2)

adjective

1.

used of a single unit or thing; not two or more

  • “ane”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

particular but unspecified

  • “early one evening”
Similar
3.

having the indivisible character of a unit

  • “a unitary action”
  • “spoke with one voice”
Synonyms
Similar
4.

of the same kind or quality

  • “two animals of one species”
Similar
5.

used informally as an intensifier

  • “that is one fine dog”
Similar
6.

indefinite in time or position

  • “he will come one day”
  • “one place or another”
Similar
7.

being the single appropriate individual of a kind; only

  • “the one horse that could win this race”
  • “the one person I could marry”
Similar
8.

being one in number--a single unit or thing

  • “one person is going”
  • “her one thought was to win”
  • “I”
  • “;”
  • “;”
  • “ve seen them all”
Similar
9.

being a single entity made by combining separate components

  • “three chemicals combining into one solution”
Similar
10.

eminent beyond or above comparison

  • “matchless beauty”
  • “the team”
  • “;”
  • “s one girl in a million”
  • “the one and only Muhammad Ali”
  • “a peerless scholar”
  • “infamy unmatched in the Western world”
  • “wrote with unmatchable clarity”
  • “unrivaled mastery of her art”
Synonyms
Similar

noun

1.

the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number

  • “he has the one but will need a two and three to go with it”
  • “they had lunch at one”
Synonyms
2.

a single person or thing

  • “he is the best one”
  • “this is the one I ordered”

Origin

PIE word *h₁óynos Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English on English one From Middle English oon, on, oan, an, from Old English ān (“one”), from Proto-West Germanic *ain, from Proto-Germanic *ainaz (“one”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos (“single, one”). Doublet of an. Cognate with Scots ae, ane, wan, yin (“one”); North Frisian ån (“one”); Saterland Frisian aan (“one”); West Frisian ien (“one”); Dutch een, één (“one”); German Low German een; German ein, eins (“one”); Danish en (“one”); Swedish en (“one”); Norwegian Nynorsk ein (“one”), Icelandic einn (“one”); Latin ūnus (“one”) (Old Latin oinos); Russian оди́н (odín), Spanish uno. Doublet of a, an, and Uno. False cognate of Malayalam ഒന്ന് (onnŭ), Tamil ஒன்னு (oṉṉu), ஒண்ணு (oṇṇu), ஒன்று (oṉṟu). The use as an indefinite personal pronoun may have been influenced by unrelated French on, although the Germanic languages widely use cognates for the same sense (usually in non-subject function, but also in subject function, e.g. Luxembourgish een). Verb form from Middle English onen.

Phrases

  • Air Force One
  • all one Terms derived from the adjective, noun, numeral, determiner, or pronoun one
  • another one bites the dust
  • at one go
  • at one time Terms derived from the adjective, noun, numeral, determiner, or pronoun one
  • back one out
  • bend one off
  • better one word in time than two afterwards
  • Big One
  • big ones
  • jerk one out
  • off-by-one error Terms derived from the adjective, noun, numeral, determiner, or pronoun one

Related words

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.