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one definition

one (wun)

adjective

  1. being a single thing or unit; not two or more
  2. characterized by unity; forming a whole; united; undivided with one accord
  3. designating a person or thing as contrasted with or opposed to another or others from one day to another
  4. being uniquely or strikingly the person or thing specified the one solution to the problem
  5. single in kind; the same all of one mind
  6. designating a single, but not clearly specified, person or thing; a certain [one day last week]: also used as an intensive substitute for the indefinite article [she's one beautiful girl]

Etymology: ME < OE an, akin to Ger ein, Goth ains < IE *oinos (> Gr oinē, L unus, OIr ōen) < *e-, *ei-, prefixed pronominal stem meaning “the, this, this one”

noun

  1. the number expressing unity or designating a single unit: the lowest cardinal number and the first used in counting a series; 1; I
  2. a single person or thing
  3. something numbered one or marked with one pip, as the face of a die or domino
  4. Informal a one-dollar bill

pronoun

  1. some, or a certain, person or thing one of us must go
  2. any person or thing; anybody or anything [when one is exhausted, it is wise to rest]: sometimes used affectedly in place of a personal pronoun in the first or second person what else could one do?
  3. the person or thing previously mentioned they rent a house, but I own one
one Idioms

all one

making no difference; of no importance

at one

of the same opinion; in accord

one and all

everybody

one another

each one the other; each other

one by one

individually in succession

one of those things

something that cannot be avoided, helped, changed, etc.

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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