different between single vs continent

English

Etymology

From Middle English single, sengle, from Old French sengle, saingle, sangle, from Latin singulus, a diminutive derived from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”). Akin to Latin simplex (“simple”). See simple, and compare singular.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s????l/
• Rhymes: -????l

Adjective

single (not comparable)

1. Not accompanied by anything else; one in number.

2. Not divided in parts.

3. Designed for the use of only one.

4. Performed by one person, or one on each side.
5. Not married or (in modern times) not involved in a romantic relationship without being married or not dating anyone exclusively.
6. (botany) Having only one rank or row of petals.
7. (obsolete) Simple and honest; sincere, without deceit.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Luke 11:

     Therefore, when thyne eye is single: then is all thy boddy full off light. Butt if thyne eye be evyll: then shall all thy body be full of darknes?
8. Uncompounded; pure; unmixed.
   • 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick, or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry After Truth With a Variety of Rules to Guard

     simple ideas are opposed to complex , and single ideas to compound.

   • 1867, William Greenough Thayer Shedd, Homiletics, and Pastoral Theology (page 166)

     The most that is required is, that the passage of Scripture, selected as the foundation of the sacred oration, should, like the oration itself, be single, full, and unsuperfluous in its character.

9. (obsolete) Simple; foolish; weak; silly.

   • He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice.

Synonyms

• (not accompanied by anything else): lone, sole
• (not divided in parts): unbroken, undivided, uniform
• (not married): unmarried, available

Antonyms

• (not married): divorced, married, widowed, taken
• (not single, in a relationship, but with separate households): living apart together, LAT

Derived terms

Related terms

• singular
• singularity
• singularly

Translations

Noun

single (plural singles)

1. (music) A 45 RPM vinyl record with one song on side A and one on side B.

   Antonym: album

2. (music) A popular song released and sold (on any format) nominally on its own though usually having at least one extra track.

3. One who is not married or does not have a romantic partner.

   Antonym: married

4. (cricket) A score of one run.
5. (baseball) A hit in baseball where the batter advances to first base.
6. (dominoes) A tile that has a different value (i.e. number of pips) at each end.
7. A bill valued at $1.

8. (Britain) A one-way ticket.
9. (Canadian football) A score of one point, awarded when a kicked ball is dead within the non-kicking team's end zone or has exited that end zone. Officially known in the rules as a rouge.
10. (tennis, chiefly in the plural) A game with one player on each side, as in tennis.
11. One of the reeled filaments of silk, twisted without doubling to give them firmness.
12. (Britain, Scotland, dialect) A handful of gleaned grain.
13. (computing, programming) A floating-point number having half the precision of a double-precision value.

    Coordinate term: double

    • 2011, Rubin H. Landau, A First Course in Scientific Computing (page 214)

      If you want to be a scientist or an engineer, learn to say “no” to singles and floats.

14. (film) A shot of only one character.
    • 1990, Jon Boorstin, The Hollywood Eye: What Makes Movies Work (page 94)

      But if the same scene is shot in singles (or “over-the-shoulder” shots where one of the actors is only a lumpy shoulder in the foreground), the editor and the director can almost redirect the scene on film.

Derived terms

• cassingle
• lead single
• singles bar
• split single
• CD single

Translations

See also

• baseball
• cricket

Verb

single (third-person singular simple present singles, present participle singling, simple past and past participle singled)

1. To identify or select one member of a group from the others; generally used with out, either to single out or to single (something) out.
   • 1915, Austen Chamberlain, speech on April 16, 1915

     Sir John French says that if he is to single out one regiment in the fighting at Ypres it is the Worcesters he would name? I do plead that some person should record these events, so that our history, national and local, may be the richer for them, that the children may be stimulated to do their duty by the knowledge of the way in which our soldiers are doing theirs to-day.

2. (baseball) To get a hit that advances the batter exactly one base.

3. (agriculture) To thin out.
   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 7

     Paul went joyfully, and spent the afternoon helping to hoe or to single turnips with his friend.

4. (of a horse) To take the irregular gait called singlefoot.
   • 1860, William S. Clark, Massachusetts Agricultural College Annual Report

     Many very fleet horses, when overdriven, adopt a disagreeable gait, which seems to be a cross between a pace and a trot, in which the two legs of one side are raised almost but not quite, simultaneously. Such horses are said to single, or to be single-footed.

5. To sequester; to withdraw; to retire.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     an agent singling itself from consorts

6. To take alone, or one by one.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     men […] commendable when they are singled

7. To reduce a railway to single track.

Derived terms

• single out

Translations

See also

References

• single in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “single”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Nigels, glinse, ingles

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /?si?.??l/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?si?.?el/

Noun

single m (plural singles)

1. (music) single

Further reading

• “single” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “single” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “single” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation

• (music record or track): IPA^(key): /?s??.?l/, /?s??.??l/
• ((person) without romantic partner): IPA^(key): /?s??.??l/
• Hyphenation: sin?gle

Noun

single m (plural singles, diminutive singletje n)

1. A single (short music record, e.g. 45 RPM vinyl with an A side and a B side; main track of such a record).
2. A single (person without a romantic partner).

Derived terms

• debuutsingle
• hitsingle

Adjective

single (not comparable)

1. single (without a romantic partner)

Inflection

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?si?le/, [?s?i?le?]
• Rhymes: -i?le
• Syllabification: sing?le

Noun

single

1. single (45 rpm record; track nominally released on its own)

Declension

See also

• pitkäsoitto

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English single.

Noun

single m or f (invariable)

1. single, loner (person who lives alone and has no emotional ties)

Adjective

single (invariable)

1. single (unmarried, not in a relationship)

   Synonym: (formal) celibe

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• singel

Etymology

Borrowed from English single and singles.

Noun

single m (definite singular singlen, indefinite plural singler, definite plural singlene)

1. (music) a single (record or CD)
2. (sports) singles (e.g. in tennis)

Synonyms

• singelplate (record)

References

• “single” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• singel

Etymology

Borrowed from English single and singles.

Noun

single m (definite singular singlen, indefinite plural singlar, definite plural singlane)

1. (music) a single (record or CD)
2. (sports) singles (e.g. in tennis)

Synonyms

• singelplate (record)

References

• “single” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English single.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?s?.?ow/

Noun

single m (plural singles)

1. (music) single (song released on its own or with an extra track)

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English single. Doublet of sendos.

Noun 1

single m (plural singles)

1. single (song released)

Noun 2

single m or f (plural singles)

1. single, single person

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?nt?n?nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k?nt?n?nt/, /?k?nt?n?nt/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin contin?ntem, noun use of present participle of contin?re (“to contain”).

Noun

continent (plural continents)

1. Each of the main continuous land-masses on the earth's surface, now generally regarded as seven in number, including their related islands, continental shelves etc.
2. (obsolete in general sense) A large contiguous landmass considered independent of its islands, peninsulas etc. Specifically, the Old World continent of Europe–Asia–Africa. See the Continent.
3. (obsolete) Land (as opposed to the water).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.v:

     The carkas with the streame was carried downe, / But th'head fell backeward on the continent.

Hyponyms

• Africa
• America
• Antarctica
• Asia
• Australia
• Europe
• Eurasia
• Gondwana
• Laurasia
• North America
• Oceania
• Pangaea
• South America

Derived terms

• the Continent
• continental
• supercontinent

Translations

See also

• (continents) continent; Africa, America, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America ^{(Category: en:Continents)}

Etymology 2

From Middle English contynent, from Old French continent, from Latin continentem (“continuous; holding together”), present participle of contin?re (“to contain”).

Adjective

continent (comparative more continent, superlative most continent)

1. Exercising self-restraint; controlled, temperate with respect to one's bodily needs or passions, especially sex, urination and/or defecation.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 119:

     A celibate himself, he was of the opinion that marriage was something of a concession to human frailty, to save from fornication those who could not be continent, so it was better to marry than to burn with lust.

2. Not interrupted; connected; continuous.
   • 1843, John McIntosh, The Origin of the North American Indians

     The northeast part of Asia is, if not continent with the west side of America, yet certainly it is the least disjoined by sea of all that coast.

3. (obsolete) Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing.

Antonyms

• incontinent

Translations

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin contin?ns.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /kon.ti?nent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kun.ti?nen/

Noun

continent m (plural continents)

1. continent

Related terms

• continental

See also

• (continents) continent; Àfrica,? Amèrica,? Antàrtida,? Àsia,? Oceania,? Europa/?Nord-amèrica,? Amèrica del Nord/?Sud-amèrica,? Amèrica del Sud ^{(Category: ca:Continents) [edit]}

Further reading

• “continent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “continent” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “continent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “continent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?n.ti?n?nt/
• Hyphenation: con?ti?nent
• Rhymes: -?nt

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French continent, from Latin contin?ns.

Noun

continent n (plural continenten)

1. continent (landmass)

Synonyms

• werelddeel

Derived terms

• subcontinent

Descendants

• ? Indonesian: kontinen

Etymology 2

Ultimately from Latin contin?ns. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Adjective

continent (not comparable)

1. (chiefly medicine) continent
2. (obsolete) continent, morally restrained

Inflection

Related terms

• incontinent

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin continens, continentem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.ti.n??/

Noun

continent m (plural continents)

1. continent

Derived terms

• continental
• sous-continent

Related terms

• contenir

Descendants

• Antillean Creole: kontinan
• Haitian Creole: kontinan
• ? Romanian: continent

Further reading

• “continent” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Verb

continent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of contine?

Middle French

Adjective

continent m (feminine singular continente, masculine plural continens, feminine plural continentes)

1. continent (exercising restraint)

   Antonym: incontinent

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin contin?ns.

Noun

continent m (plural continents)

1. continent

Related terms

• continental

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin continens and/or from French continent.

Noun

continent n (plural continente)

1. continent

Declension

Related terms

• continental
• con?ine