singularity

plural singularities

1. countableuncountableThe state of being singular, distinct, peculiar, uncommon or unusual.

   I took notice of this little figure for the singularity of the instrument.

   1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

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   Pliny addeth this ſingularity to the Indian ſoil, that it is without weeds, that the second year the very falling down of the seeds yieldeth corn.

   a. 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, The Marrow of Historie, Or, an Epitome of All Historical Passages from the Creation, to the End of the Last Macedonian War, published 1650, page 40

   A sub-cultural style or artifact, when adopted by the mainstream, loses its singularity. Once bell-bottoms became fashionable they were no longer a "gay style."

   1980 August 16, Michael Bronski, “Does Life Incriminate Art?”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 5, page 10

2. countableuncountableAn unusual action or behaviour.

   When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book, written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it. […] My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity.

   a. 1790, Benjamin Franklin, “Beginning Life as a Printer”, in Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, New York: Henry Holt and Company, published 1916

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   "Do you know," said she to Guido one morning, when, after asking her to sing, the Englishman had left the room in the very middle of her song, "that I have taken a fancy into my head, which quite accounts for Mr. Arden's singularities: it is, that I am like some one whom he loved and lost in early youth; and though the loss is dreadful, the love is yet pleasant to remember."

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 115

3. countableuncountableA point where all parallel lines meet.
4. countableuncountableA point where a measured variable reaches unmeasurable or infinite value.
5. countableuncountablemathematicsThe value or range of values of a function for which a derivative does not exist.
6. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountablenatural sciencesEllipsis of gravitational singularity (“a point or region in spacetime in which gravitational forces cause matter to have an infinite density; associated with black holes”).

   Consequently the interior of a black hole is empty, with a singularity at the centre.

   1992, Jean-Pierre Luminet, Black Holes, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 135

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   At this singularity the laws of science and our ability to predict the future would break down. However, any observer who remained outside the black hole would not be affected by this failure of predictability, because neither light nor any other signal could reach him from the singularity.

   1988, Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time, Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 88

   Synonyms: spacetime singularity

7. abbreviationcapitalizedcountableellipsissometimesuncountableEllipsis of technological singularity (“a hypothetical turning point in the future, the culmination of ever-accelerating technological progress, when human history as we have known it ends, and a strange new era begins. For some writers, the catalyst is superhuman machine intelligence”).

   When we look back at this time, I think we all realize that we were standing in the foothills of the singularity.

   2026 May 22, Demis Hassabis, 5:40, in I/O 2026 Keynote

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   One conversation centered on the ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue.

   1958, Stan Ulam, “Tribute to John von Neumann”, in Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society

   Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended. […] I think it's fair to call this event a singularity ("the Singularity" for the purposes of this paper).

   1993, Vernor Vinge, “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era”, in Whole Earth Review

   [Vernor] Vinge was among those (along with, notably, Ray Kurzweil) to discuss the transformation of humans by technology, coming in a matter of decades, referred to as "the singularity."

   [2011 January 5, Rob Walker, “Cyberspace when you're dead”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Mar 2018

   The notion of the Singularity is predicated on Moore's Law, the 1965 observation by the Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, that the number of transistors that can be etched onto a sliver of silicon doubles at roughly two year intervals.

   2016 April 7, John Markoff, “When is the Singularity? Probably not in your lifetime”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Apr 2018

   Synonyms: technological singularity, Kurzweil singularity, Singularity

8. countableobsoleteuncountableAnything singular, rare, or curious.

   Your Gallerie / Haue vve paſs'd through, not vvithout much content / In many ſingularities; […]

   c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 302

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   [N]either my Birth, my Education, nor the generall courſe of my life can promiſe no ſingularitie in any part of thoſe Actes they treate of: […]

   1613, G[ervase] M[arkham], “A Former Part, before the First Part: Being an Absolute Perfect Introduction into All the Rules of Husbandry; and Must First of All be Read, or the Readers Labour Will be Frustrate. Chapter I. The Proem of the Author. What a Husbandman is: His Vtilitie and Necessitie.”, in The English Husbandman. The First Part: […], London: […] T[homas] S[nodham] for Iohn Browne, […], →OCLC, signature A2, recto

   He was badgered in that witness-box for an hour. By a distracting repetition of cross-examination he was forced to confess that he had seen and spoken to a human biped in broad daylight, yet could not recollect one singularity to distinguish this phantom from the flat mass of humanity.

   1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 89

9. countableobsoleteuncountablePossession of a particular or exclusive privilege, prerogative, or distinction.

   Catholicism […] must be understood in opposition to the legal singularity of the Jewish nation.

   1659, John Pearson, An Exposition of the Creed, page 445

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   St. Gregory, being himself a Bishop of Rome, and writing against the title of Universal Bishop, saith thus, "None of all my predecessors ever consented to use this ungodly title; no bishop of Rome ever took upon him this name of singularity."

   [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)

10. countableuncountableCelibacy, singleness (as contrasted with marriage).

    Gradually the implication of biblical monotheism created an entailment of singularity and monogamy in sexual relations.

    1995, Joseph Monti, Arguing About Sex: The Rhetoric of Christian Sexual Morality, page 234

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    Marriage is the mother of the world, and preserves Kingdomes, and fils Cities, and Churches, and Heaven itself: Celibate, like the flie in the heart of an apple, dwels in a perpetuall sweetnesse, but sits alone, and is confin'd, and dies in singularity; but marriage, like the useful bee, builds a house and gathers sweetnesse from every flower, and labours and unites into Societies and Republicks, and sends out colonies, and feeds the world with delicacies, and obeys its king, and keeps order, and exercises many vertues, and promotes the interest of mankind, and is that state of good things to which God hath designed the present constitution of the world.

    1655, Jeremy Taylor, Eniautos: A Covrse of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year, page 223

    Comparisons between marriage and celibacy are dubious. […] In this sense, marriage is the institution of sexual partnering whereas celibacy is an institution of sexual singularity.

    1998, Judith A. Merkle, “Two Faces of Sexual Integration”, in A Different Touch: A Study of Vows in Religious Life, Liturgical Press, →ISBN, page 248

    David emphasized that being singular in his relationship with God relies on real ties to the community, real friendships and a real work that sustains him. As I write, I am conscious of a singularity that I live and that is supported by close friends, family, clients and religious community. Genuine relationships are crucial and provide a supportive structure of interdependence.

    2015, Susan J. Pollard, Celibacy and Soul: Exploring the Depths of Chastity, Fisher King Press, →ISBN, page 59

1. engineeringThe technological singularity.

   The notion of the Singularity is predicated on Moore's Law, the 1965 observation by the Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, that the number of transistors that can be etched onto a sliver of silicon doubles at roughly two year intervals.

   2016 April 7, John Markoff, “When is the Singularity? Probably not in your lifetime”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Apr 2018