uniform

comparative more uniform · superlative most uniform

1. Unvarying; all the same.

   "Chocolate and cream," the standard colours of G.W.R. rolling stock for 21 years, are now being replaced by an all-over utility coating of reddish-brown. This is the third time that a uniform brown has been adopted as the standard livery of G.W.R. carriages.

   1943 March and April, “G.W.R. Rolling Stock Colours”, in Railway Magazine, page 106

   1 more example

   Some exponents of these ideas went so far as to maintain that the perfect society required all its members to be completely uniform in all respects-not only their rights and duties, but their way of life and thought, food and clothing, and even (according to Dom Deschamps and others) their physical appearance.

   1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 184

   Synonyms: regular, stable, invariable, of a piece, consistent, equable, equal, even · Antonyms: diverse

2. Consistent; conforming to one standard.

   The only doubt is, about the manner of their unity; how far Churches are bound to be uniform in their Ceremonies, and what way they ought to take for that purpose.

   1593, Richard Hooker, “Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity”, in The Ecclesiastical Polity and Other Works of Richard Hooker, published 1830, page 313

   Synonyms: compliant, congruent, commensurate, compatible, compliant, conformable, conformant, congruent

3. mathematicswith speed of convergence not depending on choice of function argument; as in uniform continuity, uniform convergence
4. chemistryComposed of a single macromolecular species.
5. geometry(of a polyhedron) That is isogonal and whose faces are regular polygons; (of an n-dimensional (n>3) polytope) that is isogonal and whose bounding (n-1)-dimensional facets are uniform polytopes.

plural uniforms

1. A distinctive outfit that serves to identify members of a group, company, prison inmates, etc.

   F. W. Robertson There are many things which a soldier will do in his plain clothes which he scorns to do in his uniform.

   3 more examples

   The Hooverette [housedress] can be worn as a dress or as an apron. This is the latest in uniforms, madam, according to Vogue.

   1932, Elmer Wheeler, Tested Selling Sentences (the Language of the Brain): Master Book

   ‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”.[…]’.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16.[…]There are no inspectors, no exams until the age of 18, no school league tables, no private tuition industry, no school uniforms. […]

   2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30

2. international standardsAlternative letter-case form of Uniform from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
3. governmentA uniformed police officer (as opposed to a detective).

   Eyes to the front now and there was the body, a lump of black and brown. Moon counted three uniforms and a photographer, the medical examiner and his assistant.

   2004, Will Christopher Baer, Penny Dreadful, MacAdam/Cage Publishing, →ISBN, page 81

   2 more examples

   Skeletor held the gun against Speedo’s head, held Speedo between himself and the cops who stood, motionless and futile, where they’d stopped. Robinson, Lindfors, Carter, three uniforms and I watched helpless as Skeletor, dragging Speedy with him, inched out the gate, started backing down the hill.

   1996, S. J. Rozan, Concourse, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 265

   Four men flew out of it, three uniforms and one in what appeared to be an English riding outfit—boots, whip, the whole nine yards. […] He called out, “I’m the superintendent of police.”

   2001, Christine Wiltz, The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld, Da Capo Press, →ISBN, page 113

4. computer graphicsIn OpenGL, a global shader variable whose value does not change between rendering calls, serving as a parameter.

   1 more example

   2009, Randi J. Rost, Bill Licea-Kane, Dan Ginsburg, OpenGL Shading Language Hence, uniforms of the same name in a vertex and fragment program will be the same uniform variable. Uniforms cannot be written to in a shader. This is sensible because an array of processors may be sharing the same resources […]

present singular third person uniforms · participle present uniforming · participle past uniformed · past uniformed

1. transitiveTo clothe in a uniform.

   You can't erect an army by uniforming and drilling a few hundred thousand clerks and farmers.

   1910, Robert W. Chambers, Ailsa Paige