being or amounting to a single unit or individual or entire thing, item, or object rather than two or more; a single: one woman; one nation; one piece of cake.
being a person, thing, or individual instance or member of a number, kind, group, or category indicated: one member of the party.
existing, acting, or considered as a single unit, entity, or individual.
of the same or having a single kind, nature, or condition: We belong to one team; We are of one resolve.
noting some indefinite day or time in the future: You will see him one day.
a certain (often used in naming a person otherwise unknown or undescribed): One John Smith was chosen.
being a particular, unique, or only individual, item, or unit: I'm looking for the one adviser I can trust.
noting some indefinite day or time in the past: We all had dinner together one evening last week.
of no consequence as to the character, outcome, etc.; the same: It's all one to me whether they go or not.
noun
the first and lowest whole number, being a cardinal number; unity.
a symbol of this number, as 1 or I.
a single person or thing: If only problems would come one at a time!
a die face or a domino face having one pip.
a one-dollar bill: to change a five-dollar bill for five ones.
One.Philosophy. (in Neoplatonism) the ultimate reality, seen as a central source of being by whose emanations all entities, spiritual and corporeal, have their existence, the corporeal ones containing the fewest of the emanations.
pronoun
a person or thing of a number or kind indicated or understood: one of the Elizabethan poets.
(in certain pronominal combinations) a person unless definitely specified otherwise: every one.
(with a defining clause or other qualifying words) a person or a personified being or agency: the evil one; the one I love.
any person indefinitely; anyone: as good as one would desire.
Chiefly British. (used as a substitute for the pronoun I): Mother had been ailing for many months, and one should have realized it.
a person of the speaker's kind; such as the speaker himself or herself: to press one's own claims.
something or someone of the kind just mentioned: The portraits are fine ones. Your teachers this semester seem to be good ones.
something available or referred to, especially in the immediate area: Here, take one—they're delicious. The bar is open, so have one on me!
Idioms for one
at one,
in a state of agreement; of one opinion.
united in thought or feeling; attuned: He felt at one with his Creator.
one and all, everyone: They came, one and all, to welcome him home.
one by one, singly and successively: One by one the children married and moved away.
one for the road. road (def. 10).
Origin of one
First recorded before 900; Middle English oon, Old English ān; cognate with Dutch een, German ein, Gothic ains, Latin ūnus (Old Latin oinos ); akin to Greek oínē “ace on a die”
grammar notes for one
One as an indefinite pronoun meaning “any person indefinitely, anyone” is more formal than you, which is also used as an indefinite pronoun with the same sense: One (or you ) should avoid misconceptions. One (or you ) can correct this fault in three ways. When the construction requires that the pronoun be repeated, either one or he or he or she is used; he or he or she is the more common in the United States: Wherever one looks, he (or he or she ) finds evidence of pollution. In speech or informal writing, a form of they sometimes occurs: Can one read this without having their emotions stirred? In constructions of the type one of those who (or that or which ), the antecedent of who is considered to be the plural noun or pronoun, correctly followed by a plural verb: He is one of those people who work for the government. Yet the feeling that one is the antecedent is so strong that a singular verb is commonly found in all types of writing: one of those people who works for the government. When one is preceded by only in such a construction, the singular verb is always used: the only one of her sons who visits her in the hospital. The substitution of one for I, a typically British use, is usually regarded as an affectation in the United States. See also he1, they.
Definition for one (2 of 2)
-one
a suffix used in the names of ketones and analogous chemical compounds: lactone; quinone.
distinct from all others; only; uniqueone girl in a million
(as pronoun)one of a kind
a specified (person, item, etc) as distinct from another or others of its kindraise one hand and then the other
(as pronoun)which one is correct?
a certain, indefinite, or unspecified (time); someone day you'll be sorry
informal an emphatic word for a 1, an 1it was one hell of a fight
a certain (person)one Miss Jones was named
in oneorall in onecombined; united
all one
all the same
of no consequenceit's all one to me
at one(often foll by with)in a state of agreement or harmony
be made one(of a man and a woman) to become married
many a onemany people
neither one thing nor the otherindefinite, undecided, or mixed
never a onenone
one and alleveryone, without exception
one by oneone at a time; individually
one or twoa few
one way and anotheron balance
off on oneinformalexhibiting bad temper; ranting
one with anotheron average
pronoun
an indefinite person regarded as typical of every personone can't say any more than that
any indefinite person: used as the subject of a sentence to form an alternative grammatical construction to that of the passive voiceone can catch fine trout in this stream
archaican unspecified personone came to him
noun
the smallest whole number and the first cardinal number; unitySee also number (def. 1)
a numeral (1, I, i, etc) representing this number
informala joke or story (esp in the one about)
musicthe numeral 1 used as the lower figure in a time signature to indicate that the beat is measured in semibreves
something representing, represented by, or consisting of one unit
Also called: one o'clockone hour after noon or midnight
a blow or setback (esp in the phrase one in the eye for)
the one(in Neo-Platonic philosophy) the ultimate being
the Holy Oneorthe One aboveGod
the Evil OneSatan; the devil
Other words from one
Related prefixes: mono-, uni-Related adjective: single
Word Origin for one
Old English ān, related to Old French ān, ēn, Old High German ein, Old Norse einn, Latin unus, Greek oinē ace
British Dictionary definitions for one (2 of 2)
-one
suffix forming nouns
indicating that a chemical compound is a ketoneacetone
Word Origin for -one
arbitrarily from Greek -ōnē, feminine patronymic suffix, but perhaps influenced by -one in ozone