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[wuhn] /wʌn/

adjective
1.
being or amounting to a single unit or individual or entire thing, item, or object rather than two or more; a single:
one woman; one nation; one piece of cake.
2.
being a person, thing, or individual instance or member of a number, kind, group, or category indicated:
one member of the party.
3.
existing, acting, or considered as a single unit, entity, or individual.
4.
of the same or having a single kind, nature, or condition:
We belong to one team; We are of one resolve.
5.
noting some indefinite day or time in the future:
You will see him one day.
6.
a certain (often used in naming a person otherwise unknown or undescribed):
One John Smith was chosen.
7.
being a particular, unique, or only individual, item, or unit:
I’m looking for the one adviser I can trust.
8.
noting some indefinite day or time in the past:
We all had dinner together one evening last week.
9.
of no consequence as to the character, outcome, etc.; the same:
It’s all one to me whether they go or not.
noun
10.
the first and lowest whole number, being a cardinal number; unity.
11.
a symbol of this number, as 1 or I.
12.
a single person or thing:
If only problems would come one at a time!
13.
a die face or a domino face having one pip.
14.
a one-dollar bill:
to change a five-dollar bill for five ones.
15.
(initial capital letter) Neoplatonism. the ultimate reality, seen as a central source of being by whose emanations all entities, spiritual and corporeal, have their existence, the corporeal ones containing the fewest of the emanations.
pronoun
16.
a person or thing of a number or kind indicated or understood:
one of the Elizabethan poets.
17.
(in certain pronominal combinations) a person unless definitely specified otherwise:
every one.
18.
(with a defining clause or other qualifying words) a person or a personified being or agency:
the evil one; the one I love.
19.
any person indefinitely; anyone:
as good as one would desire.
20.
Chiefly British. (used as a substitute for the pronoun I):
Mother had been ailing for many months, and one should have realized it.
21.
a person of the speaker’s kind; such as the speaker himself or herself:
to press one’s own claims.
22.
something or someone of the kind just mentioned:
The portraits are fine ones. Your teachers this semester seem to be good ones.
23.
something available or referred to, especially in the immediate area:
Here, take one—they’re delicious. The bar is open, so have one on me!
Idioms
24.
at one,

25.
one and all, everyone:
They came, one and all, to welcome him home.
26.
one by one, singly and successively:
One by one the children married and moved away.
27.
one for the road. (def 10).
/wʌn/
determiner
1.

2.

3.

4.
a certain, indefinite, or unspecified (time); some: one day you’ll be sorry
5.
(informal) an emphatic word for a1 , an1 it was one hell of a fight
6.
a certain (person): one Miss Jones was named
7.
in one, all in one, combined; united
8.
all one

9.
(often foll by with) at one, in a state of agreement or harmony
10.
be made one, (of a man and a woman) to become married
11.
many a one, many people
12.
neither one thing nor the other, indefinite, undecided, or mixed
13.
never a one, none
14.
one and all, everyone, without exception
15.
one by one, one at a time; individually
16.
one or two, a few
17.
one way and another, on balance
18.
(informal) off on one, exhibiting bad temper; ranting
19.
one with another, on average
pronoun
20.
an indefinite person regarded as typical of every person: one can’t say any more than that
21.
any indefinite person: used as the subject of a sentence to form an alternative grammatical construction to that of the passive voice: one can catch fine trout in this stream
22.
(archaic) an unspecified person: one came to him
noun
23.
the smallest whole number and the first cardinal number; unity See also number (sense 1)
24.
a numeral (1, I, i, etc) representing this number
25.
(informal) a joke or story (esp in the one about)
26.
(music) the numeral 1 used as the lower figure in a time signature to indicate that the beat is measured in semibreves
27.
something representing, represented by, or consisting of one unit
28.
Also called one o’clock. one hour after noon or midnight
29.
a blow or setback (esp in the phrase one in the eye for)
30.
the one, (in Neo-Platonic philosophy) the ultimate being
31.
the Holy One, the One above, God
32.
the Evil One, Satan; the devil
n.

c.1200, from Old English an (adjective, pronoun, noun) “one,” from Proto-Germanic *ainaz (cf. Old Norse einn, Danish een, Old Frisian an, Dutch een, German ein, Gothic ains), from PIE *oi-no- “one, unique” (cf. Greek oinos “ace (on dice);” Latin unus “one;” Old Persian aivam; Old Church Slavonic -inu, ino-; Lithuanian vienas; Old Irish oin; Breton un “one”).

Originally pronounced as it still is in only, and in dialectal good ‘un, young ‘un, etc.; the now-standard pronunciation “wun” began c.14c. in southwest and west England (Tyndale, a Gloucester man, spells it won in his Bible translation), and it began to be general 18c. Use as indefinite pronoun influenced by unrelated French on and Latin homo.

One and only “sweetheart” is from 1906. One of those things “unpredictable occurrence” is from 1934. Slang one-arm bandit “a type of slot machine” is recorded by 1938. One-night stand is 1880 in performance sense; 1963 in sexual sense. One of the boys “ordinary amiable fellow” is from 1893. One-track mind is from 1927. Drinking expression one for the road is from 1950 (as a song title).

Related Terms

dead one, fast one, four-and-one, fresh one, hang one on, hot one, number-one boy, square one, thin one

Related Terms

murder one, number one