Meanings
present singular third person singles out · participle present singling out · participle past singled out · past singled out
- idiomatictransitiveTo select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently.
Eddie singled out his favorite marble from the bag.
2 more examples
Yvonne always wondered why Ernest had singled her out of the group of giggling girls she hung around with.
For quotations using this term, see Citations:single out.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently.
More synonyms by meaning
verbtreat differently on the basis of sex or race
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From single (“to take alone, or one by one”, intransitive archaic verb) + out. First attested in 1629.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish ottaa silmätikuksi, kohdella toisin kuin muita
- ottaa silmätikuksito select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- kohdella toisin kuin muitato select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
French distinguer, singulariser
- distinguerto select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- singulariserto select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
German gesondert behandeln, aussondern
- gesondert behandelnto select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- aussondernto select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- auswählento select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
Italian eccettuare
- eccettuareto select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
Polish wyróżniać, wyróżnić
- wyróżniaćto select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- wyróżnićto select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
Russian обособля́ть, обосо́бить
- обособля́ть (obosobljátʹ)to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- обосо́бить (obosóbitʹ)to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- отбира́ть (otbirátʹ)to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- отобра́ть (otobrátʹ)to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- вычленя́ть (vyčlenjátʹ)to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- вы́членить (výčlenitʹ)to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- выделя́ть (vydeljátʹ)to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- вы́делить (výdelitʹ)to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
Spanish seleccionar, singularizar
- seleccionarto select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
- singularizarto select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently
Cite this entry
single out. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/single%20out
“single out.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/single%20out. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “single out,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/single%20out.
Source: single out on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.